


Red Light

by 7a3ira, baeconandeggs



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Quirks (My Hero Academia), Humor, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 12:35:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14873858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/7a3ira/pseuds/7a3ira, https://archiveofourown.org/users/baeconandeggs/pseuds/baeconandeggs
Summary: Between defeating villains and beating Sehun in Street Fighter, Chanyeol is one thing in a long list that Baekhyun doesn't know how to come out victorious in.





	Red Light

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt #** : 530  
>  **Disclaimer: baeconandeggs/the mods is/are not the author/s of this story. Authors will be credited and tagged after reveals.** The celebrities' names/images are merely borrowed and do not represent who the celebrities are in real life. No offense is intended towards them, their families or friends. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this fictional work. No copyright infringement is intended.
> 
> **Author's Note:** To the mods: thank you so much for being patient and understanding when horrifically procrastinating people like me do the opposite of everything to make things less stressed for everyone. To my prompter: Thank you for such a fun, interesting, difficult prompt aha. I apologise if this will not be what you were looking for and I don't wanna make anyone guilty for faults that are solely my own so I will just say I hope you can at least find some joy in this. To my betas: S and M (LMFAO NOT INTENDED) I'm the most annoying writer to be paired with so really, thank you so much for dealing with my nonsense. To readers: The ending is rushed as fuck and I'm so so sorry but it's not a complete mess so I hope you can give it a shot? I'm tired as fuck holy shit

Baekhyun unknowingly lights and de-illuminates the palms of his hand prior to the minutes coming up to his final exam. Face blank and paced walking up and down the hallway would only give way to others assuming that his nervousness was at a regular level. But Baekhyun was shit-scared. All those days that tumbled into months which culminated into years of Baekhyun crafting and honing rough edges so that they only hurt when he wanted them to all fell to his feet. 

_ What do I do, what do I do, what do I do? _

The red digits of the final minute left of preparation before he would be thrust into his unknown area cuts through the cloud of panic and Baekhyun’s subconscious emergency training kicks in.

_ Okay, look, they wouldn’t  _ actually _ put you into a situation that would end up with you dead. When you have limited prior information, improvise. Its an exam, so it was created to test something. Of course, the ability to maneuver in an area without your quirk is the most obvious but what else? There must be something else- _

The blare that signals the end of Baekhyun’s time pierces through his analysis and he watches as the metal doors of the hall swing open, only revealing pitch-black darkness and a the faintest wisp of wind. Battle instincts click into gear and Baekhyun squares his shoulders, chin lifted in confidence. He knows that the hallway is empty, his show of confidence futile, but the camera bolted onto the corner of the room is assumption enough that his teachers will be able to see his every move. A breath falls through a tight throat, slight dampness in his hands felt as Baekhyun closes them into a fist but before any plan forms in his mind, his legs move of their own accord and Baekhyun walks through. 

 

~

 

It takes Baekhyun half a minute before he realises that the rumbling that he hears was not, in fact, the bass from his earphones, but rather the rattling of the train doors against their frames. It starts of as a light metal, like clapping, but less static until the shaking becomes so violent that it turns into a booming, echoing chorus of metallic screeching.

 

Baekhyun jumps out of his seat, train halting so quickly the wheels wail against the railings and he leans against the now empty door frame, metal openings falling from the four-storey monorail to the ground below. Flinching when a car just barely manages to dodge the plummeting aluminium, he takes a few steps back before breaking into a run and jumping out of the carriage. Baekhyun can hear the gasps of surprise and turns around just in time to catch the look of horror from the people in his carriage before the ground comes up below him and he tucks his body into a ball, shoulders making contact with the concrete before rolling up into a standing position. As he lets out a loud breath, Baekhyun hastily wipes the gravel on his hands away on his pants and tucks his earphones into his pocket, music still faintly sounding before surveying the area. Aware of the screams that surround him, Baekhyun’s eyes dart back and forth before they lock on the monster, twenty metres away and currently snapping a lamp pole in two before shoving it down its throat. Not hesitating for a second, Baekhyun breaks into a sprint towards its direction, mind running double the speed of his legs as he tries to come up with a plan. Shifting all of his weight to his left foot, there’s the slight tension in his thighs before he takes a leap off the ground onto the wall of the upcoming alleyway, willing power into the balls of his feet as he zigzags along the alternating walls of the street. Arms outstretched at his sides, his heart thumps in time to his hurdles, the tell-tale signs of the burning that starts at the centre of his palms to slowly fan outwards begin as he orders the light in his veins to surface. His freerun ends up with Baekhyun almost three storeys above ground and ten metres away from the green blob of a monster, translucent skin making it so that Baekhyun could see the morphed outline of the lamp post in its stomach. Clamping his lips shut to ease the uncomfortable squelching of his gut, he exhales just as he takes his last leap off the wall, flying over the crowd of people fleeing from the scene and folding into a somersault just before he clears the head of the monster, hands throwing out right at the last second, strategically over its eyes just as Baekhyun closes his own. It’s a split-second fizzle that Baekhyun swears is his veins electrifying themselves before his hands light up in an explosive flash, blinding the monster. He quickly flashes his eyes open just in time to land in a run, ducking from the gelatinous arm that flails in his direction. Unlocking his phone to speed dial the police, he gives a quick rundown of the situation behind a firetruck red letterbox, chest heaving in exertion as the woman on the other side assures him that backup will come in less than a minute. Giving thanks, Baekhyun ends the call as he tells the handful of remaining people to evacuate. Tilting his head around the corner, he can feel the vibrations that the monster’s cries make through the ground and hopes to God that the police know how to placate a really angry radioactive jelly blob.   
  
It seems that even a minute wouldn't be enough, however, as the monster, in its blindness and now raging anger begins to stumble down the road, green goo in its wake making the sidewalk fizzle, smoke rising and Baekhyun wonders why it smells suspiciously alike to roasted potatoes. The largest hazard was the erratic swing of its arms; they flail left, right and centre, the creak of a car being squished rings through its tortured wails and Baekhyun cringes every time the tinkling sounds of another lamp post exploding sound. All time stops and a strike of fear goes through Baekhyun when the busy noises of an intersection blare behind him and he panics thinking of a way to stop its destructive path before it dissolves a whole school bus and a road of people. Eyes frantically darting back and forth and his hand slipping from the metal of the mailbox, a crazy idea pops into his head but just as Baekhyun takes a tentative step towards the monster’s direction, a tall figure comes out of nowhere and stops right in front of the green gloop, waving his arms in an attempt to get its attention. Baekhyun whines, low and anxious and takes another step and another and the guy must have been dumb as hell to not see that the villain was literally melting everything in its path and that he was gonna be next because he was still standing solid _right_ in front of it even up to the second that Baekhyun stumbles on a lifted slab of concrete as he catches him around the waist and pushes him out of way. Baekhyun hears the puff of air that escapes the guys mouth as he flies across the street, nearly pretlezing around an electricity pole before they land and roll to the ground in a loud thump. Baekhyun gets up quickly, wiping the bits of rock off his hands and wincing when he sees that his hands were red raw, adrenaline masking the pain before this moment. He turns and frowns when he hears the loud groans coming from the guy below, taking a second to realise that the mop of bright red was, in fact, his hair..

“What were you thinking?!” Baekhyun all but shouts, “He’s literally turning the road into liquified concrete and you decided that running in front of it was a good idea?”

Lanky arms cross over the guy’s belly as he struggles to get up, eyes shut tightly at the pain. 

“I was just trying to help,” he manages to wheeze out. 

Scoffing, Baekhyun takes a look back to see that the monster was only half a swimming pool away from the crossing; people finally realising that their impending doom was well on its way to destroying them, a traffic jam barring the four-point turn as drivers hurriedly trip out of their cars and children stumble over their parents legs as they flee the scene. Baekhyun’s idea pops back into his mind and there’s a second of hesitation before he decides that it was too late for any more options. 

“If you don’t want to get hurt any more, I suggest you run into that alleyway,  _ now _ ,” Baekhyun throws over his shoulders before bursting into a sprint, throbbing hand outstretched and not bothering to look back to see if the guy had followed his instructions. 

_ No matter, his fault if he wants to be blown to bits _ .

Forcing his mind into the blankness of so many times before this, Baekhyun imagines that there’s a pool in his stomach, the materialisation of his power as he creates the image of the liquid fluttering out and coursing through the rest of his body just before he flashes his eyes open, vision locked on the glassy silhouette of the lampost still digesting within the monster, but he still sees the head of the lamp and the fissure explodes just as Baekhyun closes his fist. Ducking behind a black SUV, Baekhyun only has a fraction of a second to see a ball of light emanating through the body of the villain, cries of pain cut short by a gurgle of confusion before the warm illumination detonates into a white-hot light and Baekhyun should invest into a good pair of black-out goggles because its still bright enough that the insides of his eyes turn red. It happens so quickly that no one even screams.

 

When Baekhyun feels something slimy slither down his shoulder, he yelps and stands up, shaking it off frantically before realising that it was the remnants of the jelly monster sizzling on the pavement before it evaporates. Tentatively looking around the corner of the car, the buzzing in Baekhyun’s ears distract him until his eyes can focus on the liquified oozing on the centre of the road. A quick survey of the area reveals bits of the monster’s body all over the street, neon goo melting the windows, the tires of a car, burning a hole through the nearest tree but the chaos calms Baekhyun. Sirens wail from the street above and he turns to see police cars speeding down, wheels screeching against the asphalt as a group of four from two cars jump out. He wants to laugh but is too tired to, when he seems them searching the area only to find it in varying states of decay. When what Baekhyun assumes to be the chief spots him, she immediately walks over, eyebrows crossed and confused.

“Sir, did you happen to see a monster near here?” she asks, another unsure look thrown over her shoulder at her teammates.

Baekhyun just lets out a nervous laugh before beginning,

“Well, you see…”

  
~

 

The first time Baekhyun sees Chanyeol is when he rushes to the training hall and bursts through the doors on the first day of his last year of high school to almost have himself decapitated when a big, round disc flies towards him. He barely manages to duck, the object so close it grazes the top of his head and really, decapitation was the last thing Baekhyun wanted on his first day back. Turning back, he sees that it was a bench press weight- one that their teachers usually leave for Kyungsoo to work with but was now lying against the wall behind him, blackish charring down the sides.

_ What? _

Flicking back to the centre of hall when he hears someone yell, Baekhyun realises a fight was going on. Two people, one of them Junmyeon, resident waterbender and another guy, taller, stumbling over his feet, scarlet hair making him look like a stuttering fire. 

_ Making us spar on the first day back, great _ .

Sighing at their teacher’s cruel start to the year, Baekhyun just readjusts his bag strap over his shoulder and tries to slide to the centre of the room- hopefully without his teacher noticing his tardiness. He’s just slipped in next to Sehun, a finger over his lips telling him to be quiet and Sehun only gives him a glance before he looks back to the front, watching the fight with crossed arms.

“What’s going on?” Baekhyun whispers, flicking between Sehun and the battle. 

“Nothing much,” Sehun says monotonously, “Just Luhan being the usual ass he is. I see that summer break still wasn’t long enough to get that stick out of his ass since he’s making us fight first day back.”

Baekhyun replies with a silent  _ oh _ .

“Who’s the new guy, though? I haven’t seen him before,” he asks.

“Overseas student from Korea,” Sehun explains. “You should’ve seen his face when Luhan picked him to fight Junmyeon first thing. I thought he was gonna piss himself.”

Playing closer attention to the two duelers, Baekhyun notices that the red-haired guy seemed to be shaking a little, fear for his opponent evident even though he had at least 15 centimetres on Junmyeon. Baekhyun couldn’t blame him, though, when Suho kept pelting him with tiny droplets of water, quick and small enough that he’s sure it feels like little whips all over his body. He turns back to Sehun when he heard a breathy chuckle leave his lips.

“Oh God, I gotta give it to Luhan, though. The new guy, his quirk is fire and the grape vine apparently says it surfaced late, not even a year ago.” 

Baekhyun can’t help but give a small laugh back. 

_ What bad luck _ .

Not only were the two people whose quirks were the total antitheses of each other fighting (something Baekhyun’s sure Luhan did on purpose) but now Junmyeon had a good decade on the other in experience.

“He’s done for,” Sehun announces, their classmates hearing and laughing. 

To be ‘done for’ was an understatement, however, when a rogue spark ignites, kindles flying and its almost in slow-motion, how Baekhyun watches a single ember detach from a fingertip and now the flaming-haired boy was actually on fire, Baekhyun jumping back, the heat of the sudden burst rushing towards him in a sudden gust.

“What the fuck?” Jennie yells, a little to Baekhyun’s right as she raises a forearm to shield her eyes.

The new student was  _ literally  _ on fire and Baekhyun’s eyes widen as he sees Junmyeon’s shoulders stiffen, unexpecting of the sudden burst, his little teardrops of liquid evaporating midair. With the tables seemingly turned, Baekhyun thinks the new kid might actually have a chance until he hears screaming. 

“Shit, shit, shit!” he shouts, running around madly, trying to put out the flames only to stoke them further. 

It’s silent and then:

“Oh my fucking God, he’s on fire!,” Jongdae cries out in mirth. 

Setting yourself on fire was only useful if you could make yourself  _ not _ on fire afterwards- something his classmate seems to have not yet mastered.

“Chanyeol!” Luhan yells, trying to calm him down. “Just stay still otherwise the fire’s gonna spread further!”

_ Oh, that’s his name _ .

Their teacher’s words fall on deaf ears because if anything, Chanyeol screams pitch even higher and if he flails his arms any harder, he might be able to fly.

“Jongdae put your phone away!” Luhan orders as Jongdae snickers, recording the whole mess.

No one listened, though, and the whole hall erupts into laughter when some of the embers jumps onto Chanyeol’s head, bleach-damaged hair the perfect fuel for a flame. Junmyeon’s stops his barrage of water, trying to stifle his laughs behind his hand as he deftly moves out of the battle area as Chanyeol essentially reaches optimum panic-mode. When he realises the red isn’t from dye but rather, actual flames, he squeals, tripping over his own feet and tumbling onto the floor. The accidental stop, drop and roll has everyone in hysterics and Sehun’s lost it, squatting with his hands on his knees, wiping away stray tears. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Luhan decides it was time to step in and lifts a hand, freezing Chanyeol in his spot on the floor. 

“Chanyeol, I told you to just  _ calm down _ ,” Luhan says, frustrated.

“Sir, I’m on  _ fire _ !” Chanyeol yells, still turning his head left and right to see the curls of fire licking up his shirt.

It’s lucky that Chanyeol’s volume was loud enough to cover up Baekhyun’s gasp because at that moment, another boy with red-dyed hair pops into his mind, panting and also on the ground and Baekhyun doesn’t know if he’s connected the dots when the day that a stupid guy decides to almost kill himself and Baekhyun swims in front of his vision instead of his classroom. Snapping out of it, Luhan’s loud sigh cracks through Baekhyun’s momentary confusion and he closes hand, isolating Chanyeol’s body from the neck down in a pocket of air, choking the flames. The fire had eaten away nearly all of Chanyeol’s shirt and Minseok deftly jumps in to freeze the remaining embers in his hair. Eyes squeezed shut in fear, Chanyeol slowly opens one up to see if he was burned alive and gasps when he realises he was hovering a couple of centimetres above the ground, unable to move his body and fire gone. 

“Woah, how did you-”

_ Thunk _ .

Luhan drops his hand and at the same time, without anything holding Chanyeol up any longer, he falls to the floor. Fortunately, he wasn’t too far away- the most damage incurred was Chanyeol’s pride, so he just lies there, breath knocked out of him for a second until he coughs and sits up, frantically patting himself to make sure he’s no longer human firewood. 

“Okay, well since that was probably one of the worst fights I’ve ever seen I won’t be wasting my time potentially seeing all of your nearly kill yourselves,” Luhan huffs. “Go to your stations and start your basic exercises again- I know none of you practiced over the holidays even though I  _ specifically  _ ordered you to.”

Luhan gives a glare to the rest of students, everybody immediately dispersing to go to their training stations. Baekhyun quickly avoids his stare and heads towards the change rooms in the hopes that his teacher wouldn’t realise his late arrival. 

“If you don’t delete that video, Jongdae, I’ll put you in a glass box and hang you from the ceiling so everyone can ogle at  _ you _ ,” Luhan warns. “Wouldn’t that be nice, hmm?” 

Quick as lightning, Jongdae’s phone disappears and he gives Luhan a sweet smile before walking off with his hands behind his back, whistling innocently. Just when Baekhyun’s hand touch the swinging doors of the change rooms, Luhan calls out and he freezes.

“Also, don’t think I didn’t see you come in late, Baekhyun. Stay back after class, I’ll have a chat with you.”

Internally groaning, Baekhyun turns his head back and gives a quick nod before scurrying out of sight. Opening his locker and cringing at the clanging sound that reverberates longer than necessary through the empty room, he shoves his bag inside and quickly changes into his training gear. With one sneaker just past his foot, the door swings open again and it’s impossible to miss the bright red tuft of hair that comes his way. Baekhyun doubles his speed, wanting to avoid any interaction before the new kid realises he’s in there. It’s too late, though, when Baekhyun’s hops on one foot, trying to shove his other foot into his shoe and he forgets there’s a bench behind him; the cool metal hitting the back of his calf, effectively cutting his balance off and has him tumbling onto the floor, butt hitting the hard tiles.

“ _ Owwww _ .” 

“Hello? Is there someone there?”

Panicked, Baekhyun hastily replies:

“Uhm, no. No one’s here, just continue on with what you were doing.” 

He groans when he falls flat on his ass again after trying to get up.

Footsteps sound closer and Baekhyun struggles trying not to look like too much of a hot mess before:. 

“Ha, you’re funny, you must be a student otherwise this school must be haunted. And you can’t be a ghost because they’re not re-”

Baekhyun whips his head up to see the new guy looming in front of him, way too tall for someone of Baekhyun’s height- let alone someone of Baekhyun’s height who had fallen straight on his ass, body and pride laid on the floor. 

“Uhm, are you okay?” Chanyeol asks, Baekhyun trying very much trying to avoid eye contact.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he tries convince him, attempting to stand up again but falls once more since he’s a dumbass and still hasn’t taken his legs off of the bench.

What’s worse, when Baekhyun sneaks look towards Chanyeol he sees a small smile playing on his lips, tightly pressed together in what he guesses was an attempt to not laugh at Baekhyun aloud. His mortification doubles when he realises that Chanyeol was basically shirtless- a lone strip of what was his t-shirt wrapped around a bicep and Baekhyun tries not to stare at the faint lines of definition on his stomach. Trying to will the blush from creeping up his face Baekhyun was just about to do his third attempt at standing up when Chanyeol moves from his right, walking to stand in front of him. A hand is thrusted in his face and Baekhyun squints, confused.

“Come on, I’ll help you up,” Chanyeol offers, easy smile on his face.

Baekhyun blinks a couple of times before hesitatingly reaching for his hand, palm significantly warmer than Baekhyun’s and he wonders if he’s the one on fire now when he gets his hand back, heat still throbbing in his palm. He gives it a quick glance but nothing looks out of the ordinary. 

“Oh no, did I hurt you?” Chanyeol suddenly cries, grabbing his hand again and flipping it back and forth to see if any damage was inflicted. 

Baekhyun, too stunned with the gentleness and again, that stuttering warmth, doesn’t answer and Chanyeol looks up from his impromptu examination to give Baekhyun a look. 

Eyes meeting, Baekhyun quickly retracts his hand back as if he was burned and shakes his head.

“No, I’m fine... You’re just a little warm…” 

Chanyeol’s slight worry turned into sheepishness as he scratches the back of his head, embarrassed. 

“Yeah, sorry about that. Kind of an occupational hazard when you’re the closest thing to a human torch,” he apologises.

Smiling awkwardly, Chanyeol just about to say something when he suddenly stops . It’s silent and then.

“Oh my God, are you that guy?!”

Baekhyun, eyes wide and mouth open, tries to feign ignorance.

“Me? Who? That guy?  _ No _ .”

“No, no, I  _ swear _ I’ve seen you before,” Chanyeol says resolutely, face moving closer to Baekhyun’s as he attempts to try and remember. 

Arms flailing and head shaking so hard in adamance, Baekhyun takes a step back to counter each of Chanyeol’s forward ones until he feels the cool metal of the bleacher seat hit the back of the knee and  _ oh no, not again _ . Closing his eyes in fear for the fall, Baekhyun gasps when it never comes and instead, a warm hand clamps around his elbow and he gets tugged forward to stand upright on wobbly feet.

“Are you alright?” Chanyeol asks, concern evident on his face and Baekhyun blanches.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, I was just surprised,” Baekhyun reassures, clearing his throat awkwardly. 

Chanyeol still looks at him like he wants to ask more and all Baekhyun can think is the same boy only a few weeks ago cradling a hurt stomach and Baekhyun yelling at him for only doing what he thought was right. His concern morphs into a lopsided grin, though, and they stay silent, Baekhyun trying to avoid eye contact while also firmly refusing to ogle at Chanyeol’s chest. The guilt gnaws at Baekhyun’s stomach, though, and while he hated to be wrong, he hated more to be indebted to someone. Clearing his throat only results in both of them bursting into awkward laughter when Baekhyun realises that Chanyeol tried to talk at the same time that he did.

“Sorry, I haven’t even introduced myself yet,” Chanyeol begins after they calm down, “I’m Chanyeol.” 

It seems that you can’t separate Chanyeol and the kilowatt smile that comes along with him and Baekhyun, for someone who has light dripping from their fingertips, absentmindedly thinks that maybe he could learn a thing or two from it.

“I’m Baekhyun,” he quietly replies, finally lifting his head to meet Chanyeol’s gaze and taking a second to compose himself. “And, uhm, yeah, you have seen me before. It was me that saved you from that villain in the city the other day.”

Chanyeol turns his head to side in confusion, eyes going unfocused trying to remember until he bolts straight up, eyes the size of saucers and gasping in recognition.

“Shit, it  _ was _ you!”

Smiling guiltily, Baekhyun directs his next words to his feet.

“Yeah, it was,” he confesses, “and, uh, I just wanted to say I’m sorry for yelling at you then. I guess you were just doing what you could.”

“ _ It was pretty stupid, though _ ,” Baekhyun adds under his breath.

The words weren’t lost on Chanyeol’s ears, but instead of getting embarrassed, he merely gives a good natured smile.

“Well, Baekhyun, it’s nice to meet you! Although, I can’t really say our circumstances gave the best first impression. And yeah,” he adds with a laugh, “it  _ was  _ pretty stupid. But you did save my life so, if anything, I should be thanking you.”

Confrontation (with the exception of villains) was never one of Baekhyun’s strong suits and this was no different as Baekhyun balks when Chanyeol slowly gets to his knees, hands together in a prayer position.

“Oh my God, what are you  _ doing _ ?!” he scream-whispers, quickly grabbing Chanyeol’s shoulder and pulling him up, “Stop that!”

Chuckling at Baekhyun’s growing embarrassment, Chanyeol obediently gets to his feet and rubs off the dust from his knees.

“I’m just kidding, grovelling isn’t really my thing.”

Displeased, the unimpressed look on Baekhyun’s face only serves to louden Chanyeol’s laughs. 

“Well then we’ll just have to meet in better circumstances next time,” Chanyeol deduces, hands on his hips as Baekhyun quickly whips his head up after subconsciously following their movements. “Really, thank you, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun only gives a tight nod and thinks that despite this probably being the longest conversation he had all week, his discomfort-o-meter was only around a mildly-awkward rating.

“Well,” Chanyeol cuts, “I should go put on a shirt. And I think Luhan might burst a blood vessel if you don’t get out there quick.”

Startling, a jolt of fear runs down Baekhyun’s spine. He had completely forgotten about his teacher and groans aloud, remembering the ‘talk’ he wanted after class.

“Shit, I completely forgot. Um, I’ll see you around I guess?” Baekhyun says, as he walks  backwards to the door, head turning back every second so he doesn’t trip on something again. 

“See you around, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol mirrors, mock-saluting at Baekhyun’s departure.

Baekhyun couldn’t stop the small twitch at the side of his mouth and neither could he say that  _ maybe _ , he might have a  _ little _ enjoyed the way Chanyeol’s arms flexed when he waved goodbye.

 

~

 

“Baek, promise me before we graduate that we’re gonna tp Luhan’s house so bad that he’ll be cleaning toilet paper out of every room until he dies.”

Baekhyun gives a noncommittal grunt as he skimms through his textbook, definitely highlighting important information and not pretending that his book was a connect-the-dots activity.

“Who the hell gives their students an assignment two weeks into school?” Sehun complains, the hold on his pen so tight Baekhyun was scared that it would snap. 

“I mean, what can you do about it?” Baekhyun asks, frowning when his hands slips and a wonky line marks the page.

“And a case study on a superhero with a similar quirk to you?” Sehun continues, ignoring Baekhyun. “What’s that supposed to do? Like I need to know about my own quirk.”

Baekhyun disregards Sehun’s complaining in favour of drawing doodles on the margin of his notebook, research for his own assignment coming to a standstill. The low murmurs of Sehun still whinging actually relaxes him and he let the sounds turn to white noise as Baekhyun tries to perfect the wings on one of his pencil birds. Their false serenity is broken, however, when a dull thud sounds behind them, Baekhyun and Sehun turning and hearing the  _ Ouch  _ that follows. Giving each other confused looks, they wait a couple more seconds until a mess of red comes around the corner and Chanyeol walks into their little nook, pouting and rubbing the top of his head. Eyes wide like a deer in the headlights, Chanyeol halts until he recognises them, face slipping into easy friendliness.

“Oh, hey guys, didn’t think I would see you here,” Chanyeol observes, pulling out a chair from their table and sitting down. 

“Hi, Chanyeol, right?” Sehun asks, all traces of annoyance gone. 

“Yeah, Sehun?”

Sehun nods in confirmation and they shake hands over the table while Baekhyun kind of wants to sink into the floor.

“I gotta say, you started class off with a bang, my friend,” Sehun begins, already buddy-buddy with their sudden visitor.

Chanyeol laughs, embarrassed, and rubs the back of his neck.

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t my plan,” Chanyeol confesses, “I just kind of panicked. I don’t know if you guys know but my quirk only appeared last year so it’s a little difficult trying to do, uh, anything.”

Sehun nods his head, miniscule smirk on his mouth.

“Yeah, we know, word travels fast here.”

“I guessed as much.”

They stop their brief conversation to look at Baekhyun who had been silent this whole time; it was a little disconcerting how in sync the movement was.

“Nice to see you again, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol greets, “Especially nice to see you not butt-first on the floor.”

Baekhyun wanted to melt into a puddle.

“What?!” Sehun yells, swinging towards him with a gleeful look on his face as Baekhyun slowly lowers in his chair until only the top of his hair was visible. 

Chanyeol turned his gaze from the quickly disappearing Baekhyun to give Sehun a puzzled look.

“Baekhyun didn’t tell you?”

“Baekhyun doesn’t tell me anything,” Sehun clarifies as he grabs Baekhyun’s collar and yanks him up.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds, Sehun,” Baekhyun whispers harshly, worriedly looking around to see if anyone was in their vicinity. 

“Yeah, we just bumped in the change rooms and had a quick chat,” Chanyeol adds, an attempt at trying to diffuse the situation only to make the grin on Sehun’s face wider.

“Ooooh the change rooms, now? Something you haven’t told me, Baek?” Sehun teases, poking Baekhyun as he turns in an attempt to look annoyed and definitely not to hide his very pink face.

“Baekhyun never talks to new people. Never talks to anyone full stop actually.” 

Brows slightly furrowed, Chanyeol’s a little concerned with the situation but the smile falls on is face easily as he recounts the event.

“Oh really? It was the first day of school. When I set myself on fire,” Chanyeol begins and Sehun prompted him to continue with a  _ Like anyone could forget _ .

“I just went to the change rooms to get a spare shirt since I, uh, burnt mine to ashes. Thought I was alone until I heard a  _ bang _ and an  _ ow _ and oh my God when I asked if anyone was there he said, ‘No, no one’s here just continue what you were doing’,” Chanyeol recounts but Sehun cuts him halfway to say,  _ This one? This Baekhyun trying to be funny? _

“At first, I really thought he was a ghost. I wasn’t really in my best state of mind. But I walked over to find him butt-first in a crumpled heap on the floor. I think he tripped over the bench,” Chanyeol adds as afterthought, tapping his chin as Sehun continues to cackle. “Anyways, he fell over two more times before I helped him up and yeah, that’s the story.”

Chanyeol ends with a shrug and a smile and Baekhyun frowns, wondering why Chanyeol wasn’t half as mortified as he was.

“Wait, that makes me sound bad,” he points out, “Chanyeol was shirtless the whole time, mind you.”

Chanyeol flushes but otherwise remained composed as Baekhyun flusters to correct the recount of events. Sehun’s just leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest with a rueful smile on his face, turning Baekhyun’s way as he confirmed their words. 

“So let me get this straight,” Sehun started, “you guys met in the change rooms, by yourselves, Chanyeol shirtless and Baekhyun on the floor and you’re telling me that’s not the perfect recreation for the most cliche rom-com ever.”

Mirth. It was mirth in Sehun’s eyes and if only Baekhyun could have slapped it out but, alas, the most he could have done was lift his chin and state  _ Yes. _ Sehun laughed again and Baekhyun bristles at the obvious being made fun of. Before he can do any damage control, however, Chanyeol opens his mouth to alleviate the situation but only succeeds in making Baekhyun feel like a career being invisible was the most inviting prospect right now.

“Actually, we’ve met before,” Chanyeol clears up, “actually, he saved me from a monster a couple of weeks ago so I kind of owe him my life funnily enough.”

You could almost see the cogs turning in Sehun’s brain, and Baekhyun whispers desperately under his breath  _ please don’t remember, please don’t remember, please don’t remem-. _

“ _ No fucking way _ ,” Sehun breathes out, “This is dumbass-on-a-suicide-mission guy?”

Mortified. Baekhyun was mortified. And it could’ve been a splutter or a moan but nothing about the sound that came out of his mouth was discernible and usually Baekhyun would’ve have been more observant to not let himself look this stupid in public but when Chanyeol looks at him with barely-concealed hurt on his face, he slams his palms on the table, gold seeping beneath them as he subconsciously activates his quirk under his stress.

“ _ Sehun _ ,” he whispers harshly before turning to Chanyeol and attempting to assure him that  _ it was all a mistake and I was just really upset so I didn’t mean it _ but-

He laughs. Chanyeol laughs and it takes Baekhyun one, two, three seconds for the light under his hands to dim and for him to slowly back down on his chair after registering the ringing peals. Chanyeol wipes a stray tear from his eye and Sehun’s cracked the biggest smirk of his life and Baekhyun absentmindedly wonders if he’s lost the feeling in his toes.

“Don’t worry, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol manages to say through his outburst, hands over his stomach still shaking with laughter. “I would’ve done the same if it were me.”

“This is too fucking good,” Sehun cackles, looking back and forth between them. “You only need a scene of you guys slo-mo blinking with over saturated lighting and making out before you have yourself a Hollywood-winning film.”

In between Baekhyun spluttering that that was  _ not  _ going to happen, Sehun had absolutely lost it and Baekhyun starts to panic when a slight breeze begins, wind blowing in time to Sehun’s guffaws as the pieces of paper on their table begin to fly off in all directions. To make matters worse he hears dull footsteps coming towards them, sure that their racket had finally gotten the librarian to find them and kick them out.

“ _ Sehun _ ,  _ come on _ ,” Baekhyun whined, “Quiet down, the librarian is gonna kick us out if you keep howling like this. Also, can you like  _ not  _ start a tornado in the middle of the library?!”

Sehun sobers up but his grin remains as wide as ever, air coming in quick, breathy gasps, as the papers fall along with his exhales. Chanyeol just watches the ordeal unfold before him, a near-hysterical Sehun and a very pride-wounded Baekhyun tugging on his friend’s sleeve trying to get him to shut up as their papers floated back down to land all over the place like oversized snowflakes. 

“Well, I think I should go. I need to do the assignment, too,” Chanyeol points out, pushing his chair back to stand up. “Don’t worry, Baekhyun. No hard feelings, right?”

After giving a wave and always, that smile, he disappears behind one of the bookshelves. When Baekhyun can no longer hear his footsteps retreat, he slaps Sehun’s arm,  _ hard _ .

“ _ Ow _ , Baek, what was that for?!”

“For being a dick,” Baekhyun said in a clipped tone. “Who just embarrasses their friend in front of someone else like that?”

“If you don’t embarrass your friends then are you really friends?”

“If you don’t shut the hell up right now will you get smacked?”

“Yikes, someone’s testy.”

“I  _ will  _ shove this highlighter up your ass.”

“Would you two boys  _ lower your voices?! _ ”

 

~

 

Falling and then  _ snap _ .

The rope pulls taut, catching Baekhyun, but it doesn’t stop the uncomfortable squeeze around his stomach as all the air rushes out of his lungs. It was their first physical assessment and Baekhyun would be off running his mouth to Sehun if he wasn’t already at the top, white flag victorious in his hand and Baekhyun was barely five metres off the ground, fingers already cramping from the exertion.

_ Ha, Luhan that old hag. I usually hate him but this time I’ll let it slide _ Baekhyun remembers Sehun saying before the test began- a simple race to see who could reach the top of the rock wall and grab their flag first.

_ So unfair _ , rings in Baekhyun’s mind again but that doesn't stop the fact that while he wasn’t one of the last people in his class, finishing was still a mile away. A fail on the first assessment would really be the icing on top of a very distasteful cake.

 

Luhan had called all of them over, gleeful smile on his face and Baekhyun already knew they were in for it- no one could look that happy teaching a bunch of bratty teenagers. Never mind the fact that there was a huge rock wall embedded into the far side of their hall and halfway through Luhan’s talk, the seam at the top cracks open and  _ lava _ , fucking  _ lava _ starts pouring down its face. It’s one thing to hate your students, but wanting them dead? Baekhyun didn’t think that Luhan would really want them gone that bad but as the lava approaches the floor to melt everything in its path into a molten mess, the doors are flung open and it’s their Year Coordinator, Sooyoung Park, who lifts a hand, opening a portal and transporting the lava hopefully somewhere at least as far as Andromeda. 

“Really, Luhan? I know you’re an advocate for tough love but you’re gonna scare them off before the end of the first term,” she laughs, heels clicking on the hardwood floor to stand next to their teacher. 

“Well, I figured that it was probably better to notify them that they may be burned to a crisp now rather than halfway through the course,” Luhan justifies but the molten liquid halts the next second. 

From then on, their class was split into those who were basically guaranteed a pass, their transport-type quirks reducing what should have an overwhelming obstacle to something as trivial as putting on shoes and those who had to go through the brunt of sore thighs and shaky hands. But as Baekhyun hangs from the wall, spinning in slow circles and trying not to throw up, he tries not to think about how he had to climb another two stories before he could even begin to qualify for a pass.

_ I know some of you might be thinking that this is unfair, those with transportation-type quirks are at an obvious advantage but, don’t worry. There are going to be multiple physical assessments following this one that will test your capabilities in handling your quirks in different ways  _ Ms Park had said but it was difficult for Baekhyun to keep a level head when all that was holding him up was a measly rope. He flounders for the wall, fearing the river of fire that had yet to fall but may do so anytime. He was sure he looked stupid but a flailing arm finally catches hold on one of the colourful rocks and Baekhyun heaves himself forward, body now flush against the wall and feet finding purchase. Blowing the hair out of his face he tells himself to get a grip- setting a goal to finish the course in at least 20 minutes. Steeling himself and trying to forget the shaking in his legs, Baekhyun continues to climb up the wall, not even allowing himself to think and just grabbing each splash of colour as they passed. A good number of his peers had already completed the test, Sehun, Zitao, Yifan, Jisoo and Jongin sitting over the edge of the cliff face and waving their flags in front of everyone’s faces. Baekhyun tried to drown the jealousy- Jongin had been so quick getting to the top that he wasn’t sure how they could have even timed him when his victory was almost instantaneous.

_ Come on, Baekhyun, sulking isn’t going to get you to the top _ . 

Reluctantly accepting his own words, he takes a second to wipe each of his hands in turn on his pants, grabbing the small tub of powder from inside his shirt to dust on his fingertips. They were allowed one piece of equipment if they wished to help them complete the test and with barely a flick of her wrist Ms Park conjures another portal, a table laden with bits and bobs dropping out landing perfectly. Sehun hadn’t even bothered to look, planning to just ricochet himself to the top but Baekhyun had hobbled over, hoping there was at least something that could give him even the slightest advantage. He eyed the balancing device only for Jongdae to snatch it up just as his hand reached out and Kyungri snagged a pair of suction gloves. Everyone had grabbed their equipment before Baekhyun could even make a decision and by the end of it, it’s just him and Irene, staring at a table filled with useless things. He snatched up the tub of powder just so that he could keep a shred of his pride. 

 

In the end, it gave some semblance of usefulness- his hands had adequate grip on the wall. If only his legs would stop shaking. Allowing himself a second to survey his surroundings, Baekhyun realises he had reached halfway, currently in the lead and that maybe success wasn’t  totally impossible. Looking below and trying not to let his stomach reach his throat, he saw that Junmyeon was right at his feet, dark mop of hair gaining ground far too quickly for Baekhyun’s liking. The rest of them aren’t far behind and the huge clock hanging above them tells them that 15 minutes have already passed.

_ Shit _ .

Luhan told them that while speed was obviously the trait they’d be rewarding most favourably, they did not restrict the use of their quirks at all.

_ In fact, if somehow you manage to use your quirk to your advantage or in an innovative way, you will be marked accordingly _ Baekhyun recalls him saying and now that time was slowly slipping from him just as his stupid foot was doing with this damn wall, he tries to think of a way that he could pick up some bonus points while scrambling to the top. Unfortunately, it seemed that his classmates were thinking the same thing and just as Baekhyun’s fingers reaches for the bright blue stone above his head, he feels a chill in his ankle before it shoots up through his whole body.

_ Oh no _ .

A fearful glance down confirms what Baekhyun fears and Minseok’s hand that was not gripping onto his rope for dear life is held against the wall, spiderweb of frost spreading through the course like molecules in a crystal. Losing no more time, Baekhyun grabs the wedge and heaves himself up, desperately trying to outclimb the maddeningly quick wall of ice. He hears a yell below and assumes Junmyeon wasn’t as lucky, his shouts telling Baekhyun that he was immobilised by a cage of ice. Everyone else begins to panic, dispersing like oil in water and Baekhyun hears Luhan’s entertained laugh from below; everyone who had finished flies off the top, not wanting to come into contact with the icy chains. Unable to spare even a second, Baekhyun’s mind whirrs, trying to think of a way out and in his moment of desperation, before he could even think, his hand shoots up. A breath held and then the ceiling lights crack, LED bulbs throbbing with a barely-contained luminescence until they blow with a shattering explosion, bathing the hall in darkness. The void of colour amplifies his hearing, Baekhyun’s laboured breathing magnified by a hundred and he holds himself flush against the wall as the tinkling sounds of hundreds of thousands of shards of glass sprinkle down. A subconscious wish of  _ I hope nobody got hurt _ runs through his mind but the thought of whether he’s gotten out of Minseok’s frozen spiderweb consumes the rest of his mind. 

“Hey, who turned out the lights?!” Jessica yells from below and Baekhyun allows himself a small, relieved laugh before lighting up the palms of his hands and reaching for the rock above him.

He only manages to lift himself halfway when he pulls taut and looking down, the twinkle of his bioluminescence as it reflects off the covering of frost on his right foot meets his gaze.

“Fuck!” he swears, desperately trying to pull himself free but when he stretches himself to an almost dislocated hip, he realises he was stuck for the time being. 

Huffing, Baekhyun berates himself for being too slow but hopes that the de-illumination hinders the rest of the class enough that he could get out of his predicament before they idd. Bending his knees so he could reach his foot, he tries clawing, hitting, glaring at the ice but no matter what, it was stuck fast and getting ice burn was a sore addition to his already growing list of problems. Wanting to see where everyone else was also out of the question- if he decides to light the hall up again, they’d all be able to see where they were, making Baekhyun’s move completely redundant. Wanting to yell for basically cornering himself, he was all about to admit defeat when something taps his calf and he kicks out, screaming.

“Aahhh, shit, ouch!”

Whipping his head back, he conjures small ball of light to see a mop of red hair right under his foot and all the fight bled out of him.

“Chanyeol?!”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

Chanyeol lifts his head and Baekhyun barely recognises him with the stream of blood gushing out of his nose and he almost laughs at the ridiculous situation, seeing his watery eyes and hand covering his nose. Lowering himself so he could get closer, Baekhyun’s hands flounder, trying to help.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to kick you, I just felt something on my leg and freaked out,” he flusters, apologising profusely. 

He doesn’t realise that he was able to see Chanyeol’s face clearly until a ball of fire hovers in between them, casting a reddish glow against the yellow-gold of Baekhyun’s own. Eyes transfixed, Baekhyun’s not sure how he could have messed up this bad.

“Ahhh, fire… How could I have forgotten.”

Chanyeol laughs at that, the sound a little thick around the caking blood..

“Yeah, I freaked out a little when all the lights exploded but no worries. I don’t think Luhan’s gonna let you pass with all the glass that fell on the floor, though. He was swearing his head off last time I heard.”

Baekhyun just rolls his eyes and sighs.

“Luhan is the last of my problems right now. I just need to get to the bloody top and grab my stupid flag.”

Not replying, Baekhyun moves so the flaming ball doesn’t cover his view of Chanyeol’s face and sees that the other had his head tilted back, pinching the end of his nose. Baekhyun’s impatient, time was ticking by even as they stopped and chatted but he waits for the blood to stop flowing and Chanyeol lowers his head back down, blinking hard.

“I’m so sorry,” Baekhyun said, genuinely hoping the remorse is heard.

“Don’t worry, it was an accident,” Chanyeol said with a small smile and Baekhyun couldn’t hold back the laugh this time when he sees his teeth full of blood.

“Ugh, gross, you’ve got blood everywhere,” and before he realises what he was doing, Baekhyun lifts a hand, sleeve over his palm and wipes away the red on his cheeks. 

Chanyeol freezes and so does Baekhyun and he was grateful that the light was already warm, a small guise for their quickly flushing cheeks. 

“I can get you out of the ice,” Chanyeol suddenly says, moving away from the awkward moment.

Eyebrows gathering, Baekhyun’s confused for a second before realising that his foot was still stuck to the wall.

“Oh God, yes please, my leg is killing me.”

“Aha, okay but you’re gonna have to stand up, I don’t want to hurt you when I melt the ice.”

Nodding his head, Baekhyun lifts himself up so he was no longer crouching and added his own sphere of light to help illuminate Chanyeol’s work.

“Thanks,” Chanyeol said, throwing Baekhyun a quick smile, “just stay still. I’ll melt the top layer enough so that you can just pull yourself out without me hurting you, okay?”

Nodding his head, Baekhyun consents.

“Okay, quickly.”

Chanyeol didn’t hesitate a second longer and giving Baekhyun a reassuring smile, he brought his hand to Baekhyun’s foot, palm glowing. Baekhyun keeps a lookout to see if anyone had caught up with them, basically redundant seeing as everything further away than 5 metres was practically pitch-black but it was more of a distraction from the growing warmth near his feet that a legitimate attempt at scoping their surroundings. He trusts Chanyeol enough that he won’t end up with a hand-shaped branding on his foot, though. A few more seconds and he hears the dripping of water and Chanyeol taps his leg, signalling for him to pull it up.

“Just wait a second so you don’t kick me in the face again,” Chanyeol warns with a dry chuckle as he heaves himself up to Baekhyun’s height.

Pouting, Baekhyun says nothing but steels himself before taking a deep breath and  _ yanking _ his foot out of the ice. The thin layer shatters and he watches as the frozen pieces fall into darkness. Snapping his head up after he can longer see them fall, he sees that Chanyeol was already watching him. The globes of light hover in between them, creating harsh contours on Chanyeol’s face and Baekhyun is rendered speechless for a second before shaking his head next and begins climbing again. Looking down and pretending the black abyss wasn’t totally terrifying he asks Chanyeol if he was coming.

“Oh, yeah, of course,” he replies and Baekhyun waits until they’re eye-to-eye again before continuing.

Nerve-wracking. It was suffocating not knowing what awaited you and what was behind you but Baekhyun has no time for regret so he just conjures up more spheres of light to join Chanyeol’s. 

“You’re awfully fast at this rock-climbing thing,” Chanyeol says in between heavy pants.

“I used to go all the time with my family,” Baekhyun explains, “and you gotta keep fit otherwise Luhan makes you run ten laps around the school.”

Chanyeol laughs deeply and Baekhyun tries to tell himself that the chill that went up his spine was from the lingering cold of Minseok’s ice.

“I really don’t like how they still haven’t opened up the lava thing,” Chanyeol thinks aloud and Baekhyun groans, completely forgetting the one thing that could well actually kill them.

“Well, now that it’s dark at least we won’t be able to miss it,” Baekhyun replies dryly. 

Chanyeol only answers back with a grunt, pulling himself up from a particularly difficult section and Baekhyun tries to ignore the shaking in his limbs. They focus only on the feeling of the artificial rock on their fingers as they climbed when suddenly, the smell of something metal and definitely not natural permeates the air.

“What is that?” Baekhyun asked, stopping.

Chanyeol had continued climbing, not realising that Baekhyun had halted until he no longer could hear the sound of his breathing along with his. 

“What is what?”

The hairs on the back of Baekhyun’s neck rose, Baekhyun looking back and forth even though the darkness gleaned nothing and just when he thought that he was imagining things something zips through the air that it cuts through the sound barrier, and explosion of sound as Baekhyun instinctively claps his hands over his ears when an electrifying streak of lighting shoots up the wall not even a metre away from him.

“Jongdae, that absolute idiot!” Baekhyun curses, scrambling back to climb up the wall.

The smell of burnt air makes Baekhyun feel like he was breathing in electrons and the spheres of light circled around his face told Chanyeol that he was downright livid.

“What, what?” Chanyeol interrogates, hurrying to catch up to him, “What’s wrong?”

Another crack of lighting sounds, so bright it lights up the hall for a moment and leaving the after-image imprinted on the inside of Baekhyun’s eyelids. 

“I guess Jongdae’s just trying to see where he’s going, that moron,” Baekhyun assumes, stopping to rub his eyes when they begin to burn, only making it worse when he forgets about the powder on his fingers.

“And what’s wrong with that?”

“What’s  _ wrong  _ is that he can’t see where he’s going and might electrocute someone, the dumbass,” Baekhyun explains as he added more spheres of light around them, throwing all caution to the wind.

_ Everyone can see because of Jongdae now anyways. _

“Not to mention the ice that Minseok left on the wall. If that melts and he decides to throw another one of his bolts, everyone is done for.”

Chanyeol just replied with another  _ oh _ , and doubles his pace after realising their haste.

“Well, what are we gonna do then?”

“We’re just going to try to reach the top of this stupid wall hopefully before Jongdae or the lava decides to kill us.”

Baekhyun knew Chanyeol wasn’t very convinced by his plan by the way he remained silent, but it wasn’t like they had many options considering their current situation.

Another yellow-gold flash, and it was  _ so  _ close that Baekhyun was blinded for a second, resting his head in his shoulders. Ears deafened with ringing, but even that didn’t hide the sound of someone’s shout, before its cut halfway through and Baekhyun hears the sound of a rope pulling taut.

“Holy shit, did he just hit someone?!” Chanyeol cries, looking back worriedly but realising he still couldn’t see. 

“Yeah, probably,” Baekhyun says after blinking his sight back, “Don’t worry, we’re made of thick stuff. I’m sure the medics have already gotten to them whoever they were. I just hope he gets marks deducted for being so reckless.”

In Baekhyun’s tunnel vision of determination, he fails to realise that Chanyeol was terrified. Big eyes wide open, hands shaking on the rope and Baekhyun just gapes, unable to not think that this was why Baekhyun never spoke to anyone- comforting people had never been his strong spot.

“Hey, hey, Chanyeol,” he calls out, shuffling closer, “Just calm down, they won’t  _ actually _ let us die.”

Chanyeol just gave a shaky laugh as he grabs another hand hold above him.

“Not sure about that, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun doesn’t have anything to say to that, so he just purses his lips and follows Chanyeol. 

It was probably what saved him, Baekhyun thinks later on, because just that second Jongdae throws another bolt of lighting, heating the surrounding air so much that Baekhyun’s next breath felt like he sucked in a lungful of electricity and he  _ sees  _ it, in the second that he looks down, the vein-like skittering of the lighting up the wall. It  _ just  _ misses them, the end of Baekhyun’s hair fizzling at the proximity but it keeps going and the breath leaves Baekhyun when the yellow-gold continues to shoot up the wall, lighting up the surrounding area and they both see it and Baekhyun  _ hears  _ when it snaps through Chanyeol’s rope. The cut ends burn brown and they watched as the part still connected to the wall coils up and it was like a synchronised dance, the way the remaining piece falls just as Chanyeol reaches for the bright red rock above his head and it hand slips, Chanyeol losing balance as he falls along with the rope. 

“Chanyeol!” 

But Chanyeol doesn’t even have time to yell back, eyes wide in fright but mouth closed in shock and Baekhyun doesn’t know  _ how _ , but his arm snaps out just in time and he catches Chanyeol’s hand just as he falls past him and his rope immediately groans under the added weight. Eyes squeezed shut in pain, Baekhyun just holds on to the thought of  _ don’t let go don’t let go _ as Chanyeol flounders below him, legs dangling on nothing and that’s when the yelling begins.

“OH MY FUCKING GOD, HOLY SHIT I’M GONNA FUCKING DIE!” Chanyeol screeches thrashing legs intensifying and their hands slip just a little more and Baekhyun’s breath catches in his throat. 

“Chanyeol, Chanyeol!” he calls down, trying to get past past Chanyeol’s panicked screaming, “Hurry up! Get a hold on the wall, I can’t hold you up for much longer!” 

Chanyeol looks up the call of his name and it makes Baekhyun heart stop, seeing the absolute terror in his eyes but he steels his heart- fear won’t save them now.

“Quick!” 

Baekhyun groans as he pulls his arm towards his body so Chanyeol could get his foot on one of the holdings and time is being pulled apart, Baekhyun watching in agony as Chanyeol tries again and again to get a footing and their hands slipped even further, only fingertips connecting them when finally Chanyeol gets a foot on a deep burgundy stone and Baekhyun can take a breath and catch his hand before he falls again. It’s only after Chanyeol gets his other foot on the wall and Baekhyun tells him to climb higher so he can hold on to his rope that Baekhyun realises his hand was burnt. The adrenaline coursing through him prevents agony but its hurt enough that it stings when he flexes his hand. Both of them pant like they had escaped death but as they stopped to regain their breaths, Chanyeol ses Baekhyun looking at his hand and his face immediately falls..

“Baekhyun,” he breathes out in between heavy inhales, “I’m so sorry.”

It hit Baekhyun more than the pain did in that moment, how almost  _ heartbroken _ , Chanyeol sounds when he utters those words, and he closes his hand subconsciously at the apology.

“No, no, you didn’t do it on purpose, it’s fine,” Baekhyun denies, trying to assure Chanyeol’s panic-stricken face. 

Chanyeol looks like he wanted to say more but Baekhyun shakes his head, endorphins chanting inside him that  _ he needed to win he needed to win he needed to win _ .

“Okay, so obviously, you’re not in the best position right now without a rope and I don’t think it’s helping you anymore so why don’t I untie that first,” Baekhyun proposes as he leans forward, shaking fingers struggling with the knot.

Chanyeol's grip on the wall was bone-white and his body was coiled like a spring, but it’s with a steady hand that Chanyeol pushes Baekhyun’s fingers away to grab the rope.

“Here, let me,” he says as he points a finger, miniature flame glowing blue-white on the tip of his finger as he burns through the threaded cord. 

Baekhyun watches as the rope melts like ice cream on a hot day and when it finally snapped apart and tumbles below, he couldn’t even find it in himself to feel sorry for anyone who was below them. 

“Okay,” he starts, “I think the best thing right is if I give you my rope.”

Chanyeol, too busy with watching the rope fall into nothingness, doesn’t realise what Baekhyun was saying until a moment later and he snaps his head up at the words, shocked.

“No, Baekhyun, I can’t let you do that,” he says, shaking his head profusely.

Baekhyun just grits his teeth at the movement- they were just wasting time at this point and if he has to stay on the godforsaken wall for a second longer he might just explode.

“No, look, shut up,” he cuts, “I have more experience than you and my arm’s so busted that if you fall again I don’t think I’ll be able to catch you.”

Baekhyun stares at Chanyeol evenly, adamant in his words while Chanyeol just opens and closes his mouth like a fish out of water. After half a minute of silent debate, Chanyeol sighs and finally relents.

“Okay, fine.”

Sighing in relief, Baekhyun quicked turns to his own harness, untying the various knots. His fingers halt right before the final knot, the one set in front of his navel but immediately shakes himself back into action and pulls the cord through the loop. 

“Okay, let’s make this quick since we’re both untied right now,” Baekhyun says as he turns to Chanyeol and threads the cord through the matching clasp right below his ribcage. 

All those seemingly meaningless lessons of “survival” skills finally kicks into use as Baekhyun’s muscle memory speedily ties a knot to secure the rope to Chanyeol, tugging on it to check if it could bear Chanyeol’s weight. 

“Okay, I have a feeling this won’t last forever, so how about we get the hell off of this thing as quick as possible?”

Chanyeol, fear taking too much of a hold of him, could only nod as Baekhyun gives him one last look before continuing the climb. A man determined, Baekhyun didn’t dare let the shaking of his hands, the tightness of his throat stop him from taking the next reach, the following step because no matter how many times he’s faced death, immunity would never be possible. Jongdae’s bolts only shoot up occasionally and Chanyeol’s stops sucking in an air of surprise after the third time and Baekhyun allows himself a sliver of hope when he orders his balls of light to float higher, highlighting the lip of the wall and the endpoint of their task. Never again would Baekhyun sigh in relief, though, because that moment an ear-splitting creak screams through the air and he freezes in his tracks, tips of his fingers almost split from bearing weight and thighs quivering from use. It was the red-gold reflection of the lava against his eyes that would strike the most fear, as the only thing that could make their situation worse happens.

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol whispers, terror immobilising him, “please tell me that isn’t the lava.”

And Baekhyun, who had passed countless exams with flying colours, saved Chanyeol from a villain only a few weeks ago, who had been praised and petted and blessed was powerless in the face of what could only be described as an overwhelming obstacle.

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun breathes and he doesn’t know what’s running through his mind, eyes darting left and right to see if they could move out of its path of destruction and he feels his arms vibrate, a desperate whine escaping his lips and wonders if this death will be painless.

“Chanyeol, I’m sorry I don’t think-”

Faster than Baekhyun could watch, Chanyeol throws his hands forward, faces scrunching up in pain and eyes squeezed in fear and Baekhyun’s just about to cry that  _ No, it’s pointless, there’s nothing you can do _ when the creaking sound deepens, hollows out and the noise that comes next is almost as bad as the first time but Baekhyun can’t even complain when his mouth hangs open in shock, eyes wide in astonishment when he sees the lava halt just a second from overflowing over the tip, another moment until it actually begins to  _ retract _ from the opening and Baekhyun flounders, spluttering nonsensical words as he turns back to watch Chanyeol, sweating dripping down his forehead and shoulders shaking from exertion.

“Baekhyun,” he barely manages to wheeze out, “please tell me we’re not about to die.”

And it takes Baekhyun one, two, three seconds too much to answer before he scrambles down next to Chanyeol and begins to nudge him up, up, up.

“Go, go,  _ go _ ,” he orders, “you can’t hold this back forever.”

And it takes almost too long, in Baekhyun’s opinion for Chanyeol to take loud gulps of air down his throat before he keeps his right his right fist in the air, a shaking left hand grappling for the rock above him.

Multiple lifetimes, half a minute, time was only their enemy right now and Baekhyun, desperate and hopeful at the same time, could not let it break whatever fragile control Chanyeol had right now all he does is guide Chanyeol to the quickest path of their escape, murmuring words of support as he shivers like a leaf in the wind from the effort of pushing the lava back.

He could almost hear the creak in his bones, anxiety making his hearing superhuman and Baekhyun swears he could hear every drop of sweat that dropped from Chanyeol’s chin, but his mouth remains clamped shut, only thinking of going up, up, up. When they pass the seam where the lava began to flow out of, Baekhyun’s stomach clenches in fear, the barely-contained bubbling of liquid fire only a few metres away from his face, neck immediately breaking out into sweat in its face but Baekhyun just sends a word of warning to Chanyeol to be careful. He barely manages to hold his gasp back when his fingers clasp the lip of the wall the next moment, hand spreading across the flat surface to find purchase before he gives a final pull up and collapses over the edge, chest rising and falling rapidly before he rolls on his stomach to offer Chanyeol his hand. It makes his heart stutter- the fear, anxiety, and faint flicker of hope in Chanyeol as he gives a tug, pulling him up along with him before falling back on his face, heart almost beating out of his ribcage and unable to stop the trembling of his legs.

Chanyeol’s coughing like he has a bone stuck in his throat, curling around his stomach so that he was in the foetal position when Baekhyun turns around to check on him. Gasping, Baekhyun slowly crawls across and lightly touches Chanyeol shoulder, nudging him to roll over.

“Fuck,” he wheezes out, “are you alright?”

Chanyeol answers first with a moan, then gagging sounds before he manages to get somewhat of a grip on himself and vomits out a  _ I think my kidney is gonna explode _ . You can’t blame Baekhyun, really, when he bursts into a loud flurry of laughs, booming and precarious but mostly relieved. He wraps his arms around his stomach much like Chanyeol was and wipes away a stray tear before laying his head back on the ground and sighing.

“I’m gonna fucking murder Luhan.”

 

~

 

Its immediate, the comforting warmth radiating from the centre of his palms is muffled once he crosses the threshold; a slightly foggy feeling replacing it in the back of his head where his skull meets his neck and Baekhyun’s next breath is shallow. 

_ Breathe, breathe. Think, think _ .

For the first time in thirteen years, Baekhyun is without a quirk and its debilitating, like a lost limb as he stumbles through the darkness, feeling as if the hallway went on forever.

_ What would they prepare for me? What would give me the biggest chance to prove myself without my quirk? _

With his eyesight rendered essentially useless, the thuds of his feet on the floor echo around him, Baekhyun imagining threads of gold-yellow strings emanating from each step. He feels as if he was intruding on something, highly irrational since this was  _ his  _ school and as Baekhyun’s eye’s get used to the emptiness, he takes larger strides, ears perked for any conspicuous noises and allows himself a small smile.

_ It's just a little darkness. You are strong. Your light is strong.  _

No matter what, this will be  _ his  _ exam that he will come out of blazing- an irrefutable victory to end over a decade of his schooling.

 

It begins as a low buzz, thrumming like bees in a hive and Baekhyun’s touch along the walls tells him that it begins to curve, a dim light emanating from the upcoming bend. Chest expanding, Baekhyun orders no more negative thoughts. Victory is the only thing he will accept. 

 

Frowning when the wall suddenly dips to the left, Baekhyun blinks at the sudden cool light, silver and grey and it takes a second for him to realise that the buzzing, the low light, was from a televisions screen. Large but for the most part plain, Baekhyun frowns before he jumps in his skin as the pixelated gray flashes into bright colours. At first, everything is out of focus, blurry around the edges and Baekhyun takes multiple steps forward. The buzzing gets louder but Baekhyun sharpens his focus, feet hitting against metal and now he’s so close that his breath fogs up the glass. Tilting his head when the screen still remains unclear, the gasp that rips out of Baekhyun’s mouth is as harsh as stepping on glass.

 

Chanyeol, feet dangling in mid-air. Baekhyun the only thing keeping him alive. And the way he looks like he would rather throw himself off the wall before he even thinks of letting go.

 

~

 

Like the feeling of being pulled out of water, Baekhyun takes off his headphones when someone taps him on the shoulder. Glasses slipping from his nose, a blurry face swims in front of his vision and he takes a second to push his glasses back, blinking a few times.

“Hey, Baekhyun.”

“Hi, Chanyeol.”

Baekhyun tries not to cringe when the words come out harsher than he’d intended, the croaky voice a result from its lack of use.

“I didn’t know you worked here,” Baekhyun observes as he gave a not-too inconspicuous look around the cafe to make sure that this was, in fact, the same cafe he walks into every weekend to study and not some place different he just happened to stumble into.   
“Yeah, I just started this week,” Chanyeol answers, grinning widely and pulling a chair out to sit himself on the table as if Baekhyun invited him. “My grandparents are friends with the owners of this place so they might have pulled a few strings but don’t tell anyone I said that.”

He ends the last sentence with a  _ shh  _ and finger to his lips but Baekhyun just stares at him long enough that it’s awkward 

“Anyways,” he coughs, dropping his hand “what are you doing?”

Baekhyun glances at his desk, strewn with papers and pens and his solar-powered laptop that he saw needed a charge. Placing a hand over the panel where a webcam would be, he creates a small but strong beam of light, watching the battery icon at the bottom-right of his screen rapidly increase.

“ _ Woah _ ,  _ cool _ .”

Baekhyun stops his charging to give Chanyeol a confused look.

“There’s quirk-powered technology everywhere, this is the first time you’ve seen one?”

Flustered at the question, Chanyeol’s eyes widen and he laughs awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Uhm, well all of this  _ is  _ pretty new to me so, yeah, this is the first time,” he answers truthfully, dropping his arm.

“Oh, okay.”

Seeing that he hadn’t paused his music when he’d been interrupted halfway through his study session, he’s a little peeved that Baekhyun missed his favourite part of the song.

“Is there anything you wanted?” he asks, turning back to Chanyeol and not caring that his words had been a little bit more abrasive than he intended.

Chanyeol’s mouth opens and closes like a fish and he stutters before answering.

“Well, I was on my break and I just saw you sitting over here and wanted to say hi,” he rambles, looking everywhere but Baekhyun, “but also after our first test I was so lost and you were such a big help and frankly speaking, you saved my life so I know this is really out of the blue but I was just wondering if it’d be okay if you could, like, I don’t know, uhh…”

Baekhyun tilts his heads and frowns at his words, imagining  a speech bubble coming out of Chanyeol’s head with only ellipses in it.

“And?”

Taking him out from whatever train of thought he was in, Chanyeol looks at Baekhyun and takes a breath.

“And I was just wondering if maybe you could tutor me?”

Baekhyun blinks. 

“Uhm, I have Minseok in a couple of my other classes and I talk with him a bit and he told me that his boyfriend, Sehun, was best friends with you and that you’d tutored him for a bit as well before so I was just wondering if you could do that with me, too?”

If Baekhyun was being honest, he had nothing personal against Chanyeol. What he assumed was a fluke during their practical  _ did _ save their lives even if Chanyeol had no idea he could control lava and almost died from doing so. And really, he was thankful, but what Baekhyun was adverse to was the fact that it seemed as though that brief instance of teamwork resulted in him and Chanyeol being best friends. Waiting outside of his class, sitting at the same table with him as Sehun and Minseok sucked face, Baekhyun didn’t know what to make of this sudden influx of attention. Unsure of what the protocol was, Baekhyun just did what he’s been doing for the past 17 years of his life, remain impassive- to the point of standoffish. But as Chanyeol looks at him with an expression uncannily similar to that of a golden retriever, Baekhyun even imagining the wagging tail and reminding himself that Chanyeol had more than paid his debt, Baekhyun shoots down reflex to immediately shut him down. As time passes and Baekhyun remains just as impassive as ever, Chanyeol’s face begins to fall, opening his mouth to retract his question when suddenly:

“I’ll think about it…”

The words come out slowly and it takes Chanyeol even slower to comprehend them, but when he understands, the effect is immediate. Cracking an ear-to-ear grin, Chanyeol stands up, hand lifted as he was just about to clap Baekhyun on the shoulder before stopping halfway. 

“Uhm, well my break is almost over but really, thank you!” 

His smile is genuine. Baekhyun believes it.

“How do you want to do this?” Baekhyun asks as he pulls out a pad of paper and UV pen. 

The confused golden retriever look is back when Baekhyun lifts his head to question Chanyeol’s silence when he realises he was watching him write essentially invisible words on a page.

“Oh, it’s a UV pen. I can write stuff but you won’t be able to see it unless you put it under ultraviolet or infrared light. I can create black light, too,” Baekhyun adds as an afterthought. 

He tries not to laugh when he hears Chanyeol whisper under his breath-  _ that’s so cool _ .

“Anyways, you want this to be super formal? Or just whenever we have time? When I did it with Sehun, we had a whole timetable planned out and everything.”

Chanyeol shakes his head to clear his thoughts, eyes widening at the question.

“Uh, how about I get back to you?” he suggests, “I haven’t memorised my timetable but I’ll have a look at it and tell you when I’m free.”

Baekhyun nods and writes undetectable numbers on his paper before ripping it out and handing it to Chanyeol.

“Here,” he says, nudging the paper in to Chanyeol’s hand, “it’s my number.”

Chanyeol takes one look at the empty space before laughing.

“I don’t exactly want everyone to get their hands on it so I made it a little bit harder for you,” Baekhyun says with a straight face before going back to his work. 

Scratching the back of the head and unsure of how to reply, Chanyeol stands immobile for a moment, looking down at the piece of paper in his hand before he gives a wave goodbye that Baekhyun doesn’t see.

Baekhyun tries not to think too much about the tiny smile he makes when he sees the iced coffee left on his table before grabbing it on his way out. 

 

~

 

Baekhyun blinks at the scrunched up ball on his desk, the corner of what seemed to be their latest hand out slowing unraveling out of its form, turning his head to the direction it came from. Grinning a little too enthusiastically for a Monday morning, Chanyeol couples his sunshine-smile with a wave of his hand. Cupping his hand around his mouth, any attempt to muffle his words was lost as he scream-whispers:

“Baek!”

Turning red at the volume and embarrassment from the annoyed look their teacher gives him, Baekhyun goes back to looking at the front, adamantly ignoring Chanyeol’s attempts to get his attention. It's only after class where Baekhyun packs his stuff up quick as lighting that Chanyeol catches him, a hand in his shoulder and spins him around to face him.

“Hey.”

Baekhyun just gives a tight smile in return.

“I thought about what I asked you before and I think that making a time-table would be useful,” Chanyeol starts, words rushing out so quickly that Baekhyun can only blink, “I’m not very good at, like, remembering things so hopefully this will help!”

Staring blankly at the piece of paper that was shoved in his face, it takes Baekhyun a second to lift his hand, another for the colours to stop swimming around and make sense.

“I’m free Monday, Wednesday and Thursday all day after school finishes and in the morning on Sundays,” Chanyeol clarifies. “Is that alright with you?”

Frowning when he tries to remember what he has planned for his week, Baekhyun silently gives back the paper.

“Yeah, I can do Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday,” he confirms in a clipped tone, passively looking at Chanyeol.

“Great! Where do you want to meet up?” Chanyeol asks as he whips out his phone, outburst loud enough that the students walking by give them looks and Baekhyun scowls.

“We can ask permission for the training rooms. Also, could you lower your voice, please?” 

Chanyeol has the decency to look a little embarrassed as he finishes his text and Baekhyun’s phone pings in time to the sheepish smile he sends his way.

“Sorry,” he whispers, “I texted you the times. I’ll tell you when I have permission from Luhan.”

Not bothering to look at his phone, Baekhyun just nods.

“Did you need anything else?”

“Um, no, I just wanted to thank you for doing this for me!” Chanyeol says, voice rising even after Baekhyun’s request and he tries his hardest not to flinch.

“No worries. I gotta go now, I’ll see you in class.”   
Turns out, even Baekhyun isn’t immune to Chanyeol’s ear-to-ear smile, because despite the minor annoyance ticking away at his temple, he can’t help but give his own small one back before he turns around and walks off.

 

~

 

“So, what exactly can you do with your quirk?” Baekhyun asks as he begins to stretch, flexing his fingers and cracking his neck as Chanyeol takes off his hoodie.

“Um, well, I’ve mostly just set things on fire,” Chanyeol begins, a pained expression on his face. “But I can produce heat, too, but that’s about it. Oh, and, I guess I can control lava now?”

He ends his brief explanation with a dejected look on his face and Baekhyun’s heart ticks.

“That’s why we’re doing this,” he begins carefully, thinking his words through. “We all started from the beginning so I think that’s where we gotta be right now.”

Chanyeol nods, still not lifting his head and Baekhyun isn’t really looking forward to dealing with emotional people- academic and physical prodigy never did equip him with the skills in dealing with people.

“Can you just produce a fire for me, please?”

“Here, right now?” Chanyeol repeats, and Baekhyun nods despite his obvious nervousness.

It takes a second for Chanyeol to take a deep breath before he lifts his hands, and there’s that look of determination, the concentration that Baekhyun saw that day on the rock wall and the crackling sounds come before the tell-tale scarlet of flames. Chanyeol’s expression hardens even further as he struggles to keep the flame even and bright. Red flushes up his cheeks and Baekhyun counts down how long Chanyeol can hold it until his breath whooses out and his shoulders sag, flame dead and Chanyeol looking too much worn out for only 20 seconds of exertion. Writing on his clipboard before turning back to Chanyeol, Baekhyun tries to ignore the way he bites his lips in nervousness and remains passive.

“Okay, not gonna lie, you’re significantly behind everyone in terms of controlling your quirk,” he asserts and immediately, Chanyeol’s face falls and Baekhyun ends up scrambling for words to try and make him look less like he’s been stabbed in the back. “ _ But  _ it did only manifest last year and if you learn fast enough, it will be a very powerful weapon. Or defence. Whichever you prefer.”

The crease in between Chanyeol’s eyebrows lessen but he still looking unsure and Baekhyun gives him a quick scan before putting down his board. 

“Let’s just try to build up your endurance today, hmm?” 

Pulling out the black sheet that was resting on the wall opposite, Baekhyun also grabs a chain and leans the board on it, turning back to Chanyeol and looking at him expectantly.

“I want you to throw a fireball every 3 seconds at this board for as long as you can,” he explains. “I don’t mind how big or small, but for the sake of your energy I suggest trying to keep them as small as possible. The main goal is to remain consistent and hit within the target until you no longer can produce any.”

Eyes focused on the red dot at the centre of the paper, Chanyeol remains silent and only nods to tell Baekhyun he’s understood.

“Okay, start whenever you’re ready,” Baekhyun announces, pulling the stopwatch around his neck out and resting his thumb on the button a pressing down a moment later.

 

It wasn’t surprising that by the end of their session, that the edges of the board were charred black, stained by Chanyeol’s fire despite Baekhyun specially requesting a flame-proof material from Luhan and he gives a satisfied nod at the three minutes forty-five seconds displayed on the screen of his stopwatch.

“Not too bad,” Baekhyun praises as walks forward to inspect the sheet, ring of red cut through by splotches of charcoal but he shrugs his shoulders and thinks that it was Luhan’s fault if his props were ruined when he hadn’t even given Baekhyun what he asked for.

“Are you alright?”

Chanyeol’s on the floor. Chest rising and falling rapidly, eyes scrunched up like he’d just stared directly at the sun and a the towel around his shoulders already damp from perspiration. 

“Yeah,” Chanyeol puffs out, “I-just”  _ a cough  _ “need a moment.”

The wheezing doesn’t do much to comfort Baekhyun but he strides over to offer Chanyeol his water before he lifts a lethargic hand and thristily gulps it down.

“Thanks,” Chanyeol says, wiping the droplets that escaped through the corners of his mouth.

“Do you want to stop for today?” Baekhyun asks, concerned by Chanyeo’s seemingly severe affliction from their training. “I don’t want to push yourself too much.”

“No, no,” Chanyeol shakes his head adamantly, “If I can save us from lava I can get through this.”

He slowly rises, shirt sticking to the wet patches on his back and Baekhyun imperceptibly shivers in disgust. 

“I’m ready for whatever you throw at me, teacher.”

Now that he was standing again, Baekhyun realises just how tall Chanyeol was, lanky stature making it almost seem like one push and he could fall over in comparison to Baekhyun’s stocky, solid build. He’s not sure whether to follow through with Chanyeol’s words or insist that they stop for today like he’d suggested but there it is again- that insufferably sincere smile on Chanyeol’s face- and trust can get you into a lot of bad places but Baekhyun ends up thinking that if this was what Chanyeol wanted then it couldn’t be that bad. 

 

It ends with Chanyeol on the floor again, this time looking like he won’t get up any time soon, and Baekhyun just frowns down at him wondering if he’ll have to call the school nurse. About to ask a question, Baekhyun shuts his mouth again once he realises that Chanyeol should spend his meagre oxygen supply to flow through his body rather than answer an inconsequential question from Baekhyun. They’d gone through drills, Baekhyun ordering Chanyeol to light heat his hands up to a specific temperature, melt ice, throw makeshift flame daggers at an ice wall he had called Minseok up for halfway through the lesson as well as the basic safety precautions that had been ingrained into any child who had a quirk since they could walk. 

“Your posture sucks”, “Make sure you breathe”, “If someone’s coming at you gun’s blazing you won’t be able to negotiate with them beforehand, Chanyeol, just throw a bloody dagger at the wall”. Non-stop chatter and criticism from Baekhyun and Chanyeol just grit his teeth and let himself take it, trusting in Baekhyun’s experience. 

“I think we’ll have to tone it done for next time,” Baekhyun mentions just as Chanyeol’s groans become quieter and he looks more on the side of mere exhaustion rather than death.

The sun was low in the sky, golden rays streaming through the windows creating slanted rectangles on the floor and Baekhyun situates himself on one of the squares, eating up the warmth like a cat in front of a fireplace. 

“If you push yourself too hard you’ll start to get fevers, headaches, and then your body shuts down,” he warns, “trust me, I’ve been there before.”

Not bothering to look for his clipboard, Baekhyun just leans back with his hands behind his back and closes his eyes, tilting his head to the window behind him and breathing in deeply. His laptop, microwave at his house, his mother’s iron and father’s razor were all powered by solar energy, something that his whole family could emit as far back as Baekhyun’s great-great grandfather. But Baekhyun thinks its the other way around. With his face basking in the afternoon glow, warmth tingling along on the edges of his hands, Baekhyun could almost feel his body thrum with energy. His internal power icon fills up, bar increasing until it brims at 100%.

 

His reverie is broken, however, when he hears Chanyeol cough, a deliberate sound to get Baekhyun’s attention and he cracks open on eye lazily, silently asking Chanyeol what he wanted. They make eye contact, Chanyeol looking at Baekhyun upside-down from the way he was tilting his neck back and Baekhyun blinking slowly, waiting for what he would say.

“I wanna go this hard next time, too,” he whispers, voice croak and face still flushed from their workout.

One blink, two blinks, on the third blink Baekhyun both his eyes fulls and sits up to see Chanyeol properly, watching as he rolled himself on his stomach and cracked his neck.

“What do you mean?”

The sound of Chanyeol easing out the stiffness from his limbs precedes his answer and it takes another moment of Chanyeol gathering his thoughts before he speaks.

“I know everyone’s gotten their quirks before me,” he begins slowly, “and I shouldn’t even be rushing or anything because I don’t exactly wanna be a hero or whatever. This is just a normal school, I know.”

He takes a breath, a hand running through his hair the only sign of his growing frustration.

“But it’s annoying. Like really fucking annoying when you know everyone’s light years in front of you and you’re still stuck on Earth.”

When Baekhyun feels his ear on his shoulder, he realises that he had tilted his head in confusion without even knowing it, Chanyeol’s words so far from what he thought was just a desire to be the same as everyone else.

“I  _ want _ to be as good as everyone so that next time we have to climb a rock wall, I don’t have to rely on you saving me and finding out that I can actually control lava to pass.”

The stare that Chanyeol gives Baekhyun after his little speech makes Baekhyun feel like his imaginary energy bar that was just replenished by the heat of the sun was slowly lowering from little attacks. The determination and unswayable certainty leaving Baekhyun to blindly trust- there was no other option.

“This was only your first day,” starts Baekhyun, “your first day of exercises that we use as warm ups for when we have physical education and I was this close to taking you to the sick bay.”

He didn’t want to turn down Chanyeol fully, but Baekhyun wanted him to realise the full extent to what he wished for.

“It’s going to be really hard work. Work like you’ve never had before. Training a quirk is like getting a pet and trying to teach it to do tricks except the worst case scenario is dying.”

Chanyeol just remains staring at Baekhyun evenly, lips in a tight line as he waits for him to make his point.

“I’m not saying what you want is impossible, but there’s got to be realistic limits that need to be factored in as well. Our next examination is a theory-based so it’s not going to be too difficult for you, but still. Finals are at the end of the second semester and mastering your power in under a year- I haven’t met anyone who’s done that.”

_ Liar. Have you seen yourself? _

Before Baekhyun even ends his talk, Chanyeol was already shaking his dead, little droplets of sweat flying around and Baekhyun hopes that there was someone who cleaned this room regularly.

“It doesn’t matter, I don’t have a choice,” Chanyeol counters, a humourless laughter tacked on at the end. “Its my last year at school, there’s no other way for me to redo- I don’t think I’m that stupid that I’ll have to repeat and like I said, I don’t want to be a hero so this is my only chance to develop it.”

“If you don’t want to be a hero, why do you care so much?”

Rationalisation. That was Baekhyun’s life motto. If something doesn’t matter in the long run, its just of the limited time that he already had trying to pursue it.

“Do I need to be a hero to want to use my quirk?” Chanyeol counters with a quirk of his head. “In the end, I don’t have a choice. My parents aren’t going to spend an arm and a leg sending me to an academy to train it more when I’m not even going to become a hero.”   
To be confused was one thing, absolutely confounded, however, was what Baekhyun found himself to be after Chanyeol ends his explanation and Baekhyun couldn’t for the life of him find any reasoning for Chanyeol to say  _ I don’t have a choice _ . Tapping his finger against his elbow, Baekhyun scrutinizes Chanyeol, watching him to see if there was any incerity or doubt in the lines of his face but in the end, Chanyeol only remains square-jawed and hard-eyed. 

“Alright,’ Baekhyun relents, “we’ll continue.”

Envisioning that smoke comes out of his mouth when Chanyeol lets out his breath, Baekhyun could almost imagine Chanyeol as a baby dragon, new and only starting to work the wonders of the world.

“Thanks, Baekhyun, you’re the best.”

Baekhyun pointedly turns the other way and blows his hair out of his face.

 

~

 

“Move out of the fucking  _ way _ !”

Cringing when Sehun yells right into his ear, Baekhyun pointedly shoves him across the bed when Sehun’s character lands a particularly hard punch to his own, Sakura falling to the ground as the white-silver of the KO flashes on screen.

“Why don’t you study more instead of playing Street Fighter at 3 in the morning?”

“Yikes, just cause you suck doesn’t mean we all have to,” Sehun says around his victorious grin, getting up from Baekhyun’s bed and stretching.

“One day, you’re gonna thank me from saving you from the pits of nerdiness and then it’ll finally land you someone who can suck you off.”

“Well I’m not sure if having someone suck you off reaps that many benefits when you have Minseok and you still act like a stuck up bitch.”

“Says the person who threw a hissy fit when they got 98% in their final exam last year.”

“They ducked points because I  _ coughed  _ in the exam hall!  _ Coughed _ !”

Sehun justs tsks at Baekhyun's words and opens his door to traipse to the kitchen below. 

“Either way you still suck.”

“ _ Real _ mature, Sehun.”

At this point Sehun’s stopped listening and instead begins to shuffle through the cupboards, searching for the packet of chips he knows Baekhyun hides every times he comes over even though Sehun always ends up finding them in the end.

“Gotcha!” he yells in triumph, pulling out the bright yellow bag and just preventing the box of popcorn from falling onto the floor. “Aww, you got me extreme cheese, you actually  _ do  _ love me.”

“Fucker, you know that way  _ my  _ favourite flavour first.”

When Baekhyun hears no reply, he turns around to see Sehun already digging in to the packet, the sound of crunching telling him he was happily enjoying his stolen food.

“One day, I’m gonna lick off all the flavouring from each one of those chips, reseal them in an original flavour packet and give it to you.”

Sehun’s hand is halfway to his mouth, fingers spilling with food as he gives Baekhyun a look of horror.

“That is one sick joke.”

“Why don’t you wait and find out if it is.”

Staring at the mound of chips in his hand like they had committed a personal sin to him, Sehun slowly puts them back into the bag and folds the excess plastic over the top, carefully placing it on the kitchen island.

“Aren’t you a good boy,” Baekhyun says sarcastically, sardonic smile almost making Sehun shiver.

“You’re a fucking psycho.”

“Lucky I only have like three friends then, right?”

“Three?” Sehun scoffs, “that’s a little bit of a stretch. Who’re you counting? Your right hand?”

“Your humour literally astounds me. Why don’t you give up trying to be a hero and become a comedian instead?”

“I can’t believe I have to put up with you,” Sehun groans, his annoyance enough that he picks up the packet and begins hangry-eating again, “You’ve got everyone fooled too, lucky bastard. Even if I told our class how crazy you were they wouldn’t even believe me.”

Baekhyun only answers with a dangerous smile as he opens the fridge to pull out a packet of cheese, lettuce and tomato.

“Perks of being a wallflower,” he says off-handedly. “I told you being socially adverse had its benefits.”

“Socially-adverse are we? Now that I see you sneaking off with Chanyeol almost everyday to the training rooms doing God-knows-what.”

Sehun smiles smugly behind a mouthful of food, the  _ pops _ of his fingers sounding as he licks the grease off.

“Do you  _ want _ a blunt knife through your frontal cortex?” Baekhyun threatens without any heat, frowning as he concentrates on not chopping off a finger. “I  _ know _ you know he asked me to tutor him.”

“Doesn’t mean he hasn’t asked you for any more favours,” Sehun suggests with an obnoxious wriggle of his eyebrows. 

“Be thankful you’re fast otherwise this blade would have been embedded in between your eyebrows five seconds ago.”   
“Ooh what are you making?” Sehun says, completely ignoring Baekhyun’s empty threats. 

“Definitely not ‘Oh Sehun’s’ sandwich.”

“You’re mean.”

“You’re  _ literally _ elbow-deep into a bag of chips right now,” Baekhyun points out, the sound of the knife hitting the chopping board emphasising his annoyance.

“ _ Geez _ , alright, just cause  _ someone’s _ boyfriend hasn’t texted them in thirty minutes.”

Sehun backs away when Baekhyun turns around and gives him a withering look. His knowing smile, though, doesn’t.

“Don’t pretend that you didn’t pause the game every time your phone went off. And don’t try to act like it was someone else,” Sehun interjects as Baekhyun opens his mouth. “You have like three contacts on your phone. Two of them are your mom and me.”

Baekhyun scowls, Sehun grinning at the annoying puff of air that escapes his lips before Baekhyun turns back and opens two slices of bread.

“He’s not my boyfriend.” 

It was confident. Affirmative. 

“Lucky for him then.”

Sehun has to duck for real this time when Baekhyun chucks a mouldy piece of bread at his face.

“You’re the one who’s gonna have to clean that you know,” Sehun points out as sidesteps the neon yellow food.

“I’m pretty sure  _ you’re  _ the one who’s gonna clean it when I  _ wipe the floor with you _ .”

“Seriously, Byun, you’re a literal comedic genius.”

The sarcasm drips from Sehun’s mouth almost as thick as the mayonnaise Baekhyun is slathering on top of his cheese.

“Are you gonna continue talking or will you  _ actually  _ beat me without pushing me off the bed this time?”

“I don’t know, maybe when you stop talking shit.”

Sehun’s cackles bounce off the walls as he sprints up the stairs, Baekhyun brandishing his sandwich behind him, hot on his heels.

 

~

 

“Baek!”

Baekhyun registers the tap on his shoulder before the words and before he knows what’s happening, Chanyeol’s grinning down at him, pen tucked behind an ear and smile too wide for someone who had just come out of an exam.

“I just wanted to say thanks for giving me that last-minute tutoring session last night!” he explains as a way of greeting, Baekhyun becoming a little uncomfortable when he sees a couple of students give them a dirty look for standing in the middle of the halfway.

“It’s alright,” he brushes off, wanting to quickly leave before the next bell rings and they’re swallowed up by the lunchtime rush. “It was a good way for me to revise, too.” 

“Well, that makes me feel less bad for asking help so late,” Chanyeol laughs. 

Baekhyun just smiles tightly, blood rushing in his ears when he eyes the clock on the wall across from ticking the time away. 

“We’re still up for this week’s tutorials, right?” Chanyeol asks and Baekhyun’s pretty sure he envisions Chanyeol more as an over-excited puppy than  _ Chanyeol _ and it takes a second for him to shake out the image of floppy ears and bouncing tail before nodding. 

“Of course. We’ll meet after school as usual in our regular room.” 

The tips of his hair bounce again his forehead as Chanyeol nods his head in vigorous agreement and Baekhyun stifles down a laugh at the show. He’s about to open his mouth to ask if there’s anything else Chanyeol wanted when Chanyeol opens his mouth at the same time, both stuttering simultaneously and asking for the other to go first before they burst into awkward laughter.

“No, you go first,” Baekhyun gestures, pulling the strap of his bag closer to his body.

Instead of replying, Chanyeol bites his lips, eyebrows pulled in thought and Baekhyun wonders if this is the first time Chanyeol has actually thought about what he’s wanted to say before opening his mouth. He’s staring at Baekhyun, a little to closely and a little too long and Baekhyun’s about to ask him what was wrong when:

“Actually,” he says after a moment, “it’s alright.”

Baekhyun just lifts an eyebrow at Chanyeol trying to swallow down a laugh before giving a confused tilt of his head.

“Umm, alright, if there isn’t anything else, I’m just gonna go?..”

It sounds like a question and even when Baekhyun’s pads down the hallway, soles of his shoes squeaking against the floor, Chanyeol still looks at him like he’d wanted to say something.

_ Weird _ , Baekhyun thinks.

It’s only when Baekhyun comes into the bathroom after lunch and gives a embarrassed groan at the huge line of red pen on his cheek that everything clicks into place. Hurriedly wiping the mark away with soap, Baekhyun tugs out a wad of tissues to dry his hands before reaching for his phone and sending Chanyeol an angry text. 

He only gets a smiley face in reply.

 

~

 

“Are you busy this weekend?” Chanyeol puffs out in between laboured gasps. 

Baekhyun, similarly exhausted, wipes down his face with a towel before it appears behind the linen, intrigued. 

“I have a little school work I want to catch up on but other than that, I’m relatively free,” Baekhyun answers slowly, wondering where Chanyeol was going with this.

Unsure of what to make by the pleased look on his face, Chanyeol gulps down another mouthful of water before answering:

“If you want, we can go to mall and like watch a movie or something he suggest,” Chanyeol offers, not making eye contact with Baekhyun.

His aloofness is a good attempt but Baekhyun tries not laugh when Chanyeol pretends to take another calm sip of his bottle only to find it empty. It's been about a month now, since Baekhyun had begun tutoring Chanyeol privately and while there had been more than a few bumps along the road, Baekhyun could safely say that Chanyeol was making progress far quicker than both of them had anticipated. With winter approaching, most of the students took to wearing gloves along to school, chilled fingertips never an effective tool for writing down words but for Chanyeol they also acted as a protective covering of sorts. Once they’d got past Chanyeol’s initial inability to hold his power for more than five minutes, he had progressed by leaps and bounds. Similar to Baekhyun, Chanyeol could shape his quirk in any way he wanted, possibilities only limited by his imagination. More days than not, they would practice on the school fields, Chanyeol now needing the space to test it to its full potential. Baekhyun had barely managed to hold down his squeal when they realised Chanyeol wasn’t just able to create flames of varying shapes and sizes but that he could manipulate it to resemble animals, weapons and even a really bad impression of Luhan that had Baekhyun in a fit of laughter than took half an hour to recover from. 

 

It wasn’t only Chanyeol’s quirk that was progressing, though, Baekhyun realising that being friends with Chanyeol was much more simple than first imagined. Easily pleased and constantly enamored, even the hour long phone calls they would make as Baekhyun's tutoring expertise extended to their theory subjects often led to Chanyeol chattering off about whatever was in his mind and Baekhyun just giving the odd hum while he frowns down at his page, the calming lull of Chanyeol’s voice and scratch of his pen against the paper welcome sounds to accompany those late nights. Sehun had been brutally unbearing once he’d discovered this fact.

“ _ Baekhyun, you’ve gone and replaced me now _ ” Sehun whines when Baekhyun said he couldn’t meet him up after school because he had a session with Chanyeol scheduled.

“ _ Don’t be fucking clingy, Hun. And by the way, aren’t you the one who keeps saying I should get more friends? _ ” he reminds while they walk out of the gates, Baekhyun’s feet pointing in one direction and Sehun’s torso turned in the other. 

“ _ Yeah, but I didn’t mean at the expense of our friendship _ !”

“ _ I’m not replacing you, Sehun. Its only one day, we can go the arcade the day after if you want. _ ”

“ _ Yeah, but they’re having a three-for-one point event today! Three-for-one Baekhyun! _ ”

“ _ I already said no _ .”

Sehun tsked.

“ _ I’m gonna remember this, Byun. _ ” he says menacingly, Baekhyun only replying with a roll of his eyes. “ _ Whenever you admit that you’ve gotten yourself a boyfriend, at least agree to go on a double date with me and Minseok _ .”

“ _ That is literally the gayest thing I’ve ever heard. _ ”

“ _ Uhh, sorry to break it to you then because I’m pretty sure we’re both the epitome of- _ ”

“ _ I’ll see you tomorrow, Sehun _ ,” Baekhyun says pointedly before he rearranges his bag on his back and walks off before Sehun can reply.

 

All this runs through Baekhyun’s mind in the space between Chanyeol frowning down at his empty bottle and capping the top as he looks up at Baekhyun expectantly.

_ Sehun’s gonna grill me so fucking hard for this _ , he thinks but Sehun’s annoyances never had that much sway over him to begin with.

“Sure…” he finally answers a small smile thrown Chanyeol’s way as he picks up his duffel bag and shoves his damp towel into it.

More than a little surprised, Chanyeol’s eyes widen to the size of saucers before he breaks out in other grin that makes Baekhyun think he should start wearing sunglasses whenever he’s in the vicinity of others. Jumping up so quickly that Baekhyun almost gets startled, Chanyeol similarly has his bag over his shoulder, towel still draped around his shoulders and walking with Baekhyun out of the room.

“Let’s meet in front of the cinema at 10?” he offers, trying not to look too pleased as Baekhyun walks beside him, “You cool with watching Infinity War?”

Baekhyun hums in agreement as he also tries to stifle his smile.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

“Better not bail on me, Byun!”

Baekhyun almost stumbles when he hears the nickname, something that Sehun’s been calling him ever since they knew each other but with the way it rolls of Chanyeol’s tongue, Baekhyun’s not sure what to make of the warmth growing in his chest. 

 

Awkwardly giving another nod, he quickly traipses away before he’s able to embarrass himself any more.

 

~

 

“Okay, look, if you don’t get the triple butter popcorn, is it really worth it?”

Baekhyun laughs, nearly choking on a piece as they look for their seats, murmuring  _ excuse me _ ’s to the patrons already seated before flopping down. 

Chanyeol doesn’t hesitate to look for the button, chair immediately reclining all the way down before he crosses his ankles and puts his hands behind his head.

“Ah, those extra ten bucks really are worth it.”

Baekhyun just rolls his eyes as he takes a sip of his diet Coke, wiping his hands on his jeans when the condensation around the cup dampens them.

“Better be worth it,” Baekhyun warns, settling in as he impatiently watches for the screen to go black.

Chanyeol’s quiet chuckle makes the hair at the back of his neck stand on edge, Baekhyun about to open his mouth and ask for the box of popcorn before it lands in his lap. Blinking down at its sudden appearance, it takes Baekhyun a second to realise that the lights begin to dim as he tries not to stare to hard at Chanyeol’s hand dipping into the bucket. His voice shakes him out it:

“You’re not one of those movie commentators, right?” Chanyeol whispers jokingly.

“If I was, I would kick myself out of the theatre,” Baekhyun replies quietly, trying to still his slightly faster-than-average heart rate.

“Good.”

 

~

 

“Chanyeol, are you sure you don’t need any tissues?” Baekhyun asks as they walk out of the theatre, Chanyeol red-rimmed and sniffly.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he says through a thick voice, wiping his nose with the sleeve of his jacket. 

Mildly concerned and more than a little overwhelmed, Baekhyun suggests that they go buy some ice cream to cheer Chanyeol up.

“Ahh, I can’t believe they would do that,” he whines around a choc-top, vanilla cone.

“Well, I thought it was pretty smart and will definitely make everyone wanna watch the next one.”

“Think of the children, Baekhyun!”

Laughing against better judgement, Baekhyun shivers at the chill of the icecream against the troof of his mouth before replying.

“Yeah, I guess it was pretty cruel.”

Chanyeol harrumphs and for all his 185cm glory, broad shoulders and deep voice, Baekhyun thinks that he could pass off almost perfectly as a petulant child right now. 

“Where do you wanna go after this?” Baekhyun asks, steering away from the obviously distressing topic.

“I don’t mind,” Chanyeol replies, taking a bite off the side of his cone so big that Baekhyun’s eyes go wide and he wonders if he’ll have to perform CPR when Chanyeol begins to choke. “I’m such a bad host. I’m the one who invited you out but I didn’t even have any plans past this.”

“No, no it’s fine, we can do anything,” Baekhyun assures.

“Well, why don’t we finish our food up and then we can walk around for a bit?”

“Sounds alright to me.”

 

They end up walking all four floors of the mall from end to end, Baekhyun unable to say no each time he sees Chanyeol’s eyes light up when he sees cool toy through the shop’s door or a graphic tee slung on a mannequin's shoulder. Feet throbbing and more than a little tired, when Chanyeol drags Baekhyun into the music store and plops down onto the floor after grabbing a guitar, Baekhyun can barely hide his sigh of relief.

“You play any instruments?” he asks, as he tweaks with the tuners, plucking a string then turning the corresponding nob.

“I’ve always wanted to learn how to play piano but my studies have never really let me focus on it that much,” Baekhyun confesses, watching in interest as Chanyeol finally strums each of the string and gives a satisfied hum.

“I don’t think I can say that I can play it, but I do have a keyboard and muck around sometimes,” Chanyeol mentions as he carefully places his left hand on the strings. “ I can teach you the basics if you have some time.”

Baekhyun looks away from his hands cradling the guitar like a newborn baby and to Chanyeol’s face, eyebrows pulled together. Kindness. Chanyeol has been so kind this whole time. How can someone be this kind? Abruptly stopped from saying words that he hadn’t even thought of yet, the quiet murmur of Chanyeol’s singing voice immediately render Baekhyun silent.

 

He’s not amazing, voice cracking through his whispered notes but the rumble that Baekhyun imagines goes through his chest has his eyes falling shut and Baekhyun hasn’t know comfort this simple in a long time. Tiles cold below him and the thrumming of his soles telling him that his feet will be rightfully sore tomorrow, it all fades into the distance as Baekhyun allows him to relax, Chanyeol’s baritone washing over him like a warm shower. It might be a little off, Baekhyun’s very meagre knowledge of guitar telling him the strings were a little flat but there’s no one else in the aisle besides them and Baekhyun allows himself a moment of calm puts his palms behind him, leaning back and tilting his head to the ceiling. It was in English, Baekhyun realises with a sudden thought and wonders the meaning of the words wrapped around strummed chords and strong hangs. He misses the way Chanyeol smiles at him like a secret he just wanted to keep for himself.

 

~

 

He doesn’t realise he’s crouching on the floor until his knees hit the ground with a jarring thud.

_ Get out, get out, get out _ !

The fogginess in his head is spreading and Baekhyun has no room in his head that isn’t being assaulted by the intruding screech of Baekhyun’s own words being thrown back at him, semi-darkness masking the speakers that reflect his own thoughts.

_ Weak, you’re weak, Baekhyun _ .

A flash of Baekhyun freezing, rigidity taking his body as he’s forced to stand in front of the school to give a speech. 

A flash of Baekhyun freezing, rigidity taking his body as he fails to cover Sehun when a villain punches him in the jaw.

_ You train, and you fight, and you win. But the people who you force away and the few who are left behind. Can you protect them?  _

Baekhyun’s gasps come low and fast the squeezing in his chest like a vice as his deepest fears, darkest thoughts encase him, trap him, cage him.

 

~

 

“Hey, Baekhyun, it’s late.”

Slowly lifting his head so as not to suddenly crack his neck open, Chanyeol stands blurily in front of Baekhyun’s table before his glasses put him into focus. With an apron folded over an arm and a look that suggested too much fondness for Baekhyun to handle, the lethargy of a long day turning his movements into water.

“What time is it? I didn’t notice…” Baekhyun trails off, looking to his watch.

“It’s almost late,” Chanyeol gives, “We’re gonna close up soon, its been a slow night.”

When Chanyeol’s feet begin to shuffle against the dusty, wooden floors, Baekhyun realises he’s been staring for probably ten seconds too long, hastily turning away and shoving his laptop closed.

In his flurry to pack his things, Baekhyun doesn’t see the way Chanyeol repeatedly opens and closes his mouth, arm winding around his head to scratch thoughtfully at his scalp.

“Baekhyun,” he calls softly.

Lifting his head at his name, Baekhyun pauses in his waiting for Chanyeol to continue.

“We have a roof.”

Baekhyun laughs at the awkward pausing as Chanyeol hurries to correct the mistake.

“We have a roof that I sometimes go to!” Chanyeol explains. “It’s not much but, um, you can see all the buildings, and the sky looks really nice, sometimes I bring a speaker and play some Vivaldi and-”

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun says, interrupting his spiel, “I’d like to go.”

Chanyeol’s arms flop to his sides and his apron almost falls to the floor before Chanyeol catches a corner and holds it against his chest.

“Y-yeah, uhm, let’s go after you finish packing up.”

Baekhyun smiles slowly at his words and puts away his final piece of paper before closing the clasp of his bag. Giving Chanyeol a nod, Baekhyun follows his retreating figure behind the counter, up a greying flight of stairs and onto the windy building top above. 

 

It's overcast, dying light turning monotone buildings slightly warm and the chill of evening air makes Baekhyun shiver. He sees Chanyeol lean against the railings along the edges of the rooftop, face turned to the wind and barely hears the almost imperceptible sigh escape his mouth.

“You know,” Chanyeol begins, speaking so quietly that the words might have been directed to himself if only Baekhyun didn’t know that Chanyeol knew he was there. “I accidently set fire to so many books that I was banned from five different libraries.”

It must have been scary, embarrassment and fear etched into those memories, but Baekhyun can’t help but laugh when he imagines Chanyeol, almost too tall for the bookshelves around him, flames sprouting from his palms and the book in hands turning into ashes.

“Yeah, I laugh, too when I think about it now,” Chanyeol admits with a mirroring chuckle. “But I was scared.”

If Baekhyun thinks about it, he’s been in far too many life-threatening situations with Chanyeol to be called normal and though hearing the fear that seeps through his voice isn’t something that Baekhyun hasn’t heard before, the pangs in his chest prompt his feet to move forward until they hit the base of the railings and Baekhyun’s bag drops from his hands onto the floor.

“I don’t think I’m scared… anymore,” Chanyeol muses, looking thoughtfully at the cars driving past below.

“Why?”

Chanyeol frowns and another cold gust whips through his hair as he frowns through his glasses.

“You.”

Baekhyun’s grateful he doesn’t have a strength-quirk for the first time when he grips the handles so tight his knuckles go white.

“I-I just, you’re really amazing, you know? You’re practically a prodigy but I’m sure everyone’s told you that already,” Chanyeol laughs. “And you didn’t even know me. But you still agreed to tutor me. There were so many times I was  _ this  _ close to setting you on fire but you never held it against me.”

“You’re giving me too much credit, Chanyeol.” Baekhyun says breathily, “I might be good at like throwing a few punches but I suck at doing the people-thing.”

Chanyeol laughs on a rooftop where the wind takes most of it away but Baekhyun’s never been greedy so he holds on tight to the quiet chuckles that are left behind.

“I think you’re alright at the people thing.”

“ _ Thanks _ .”

“No, no, no,” Chanyeol corrects as he waves his hand in front of Baekhyun, “that’s not what I meant.”

“Chill, I was just joking.”

Baekhyun lets out a tiny snicker at Chanyeol’s audible sigh of relief.

“Don’t do that to me, Baekhyun. Hearing you joke is like seeings pigs fly.”

“Did you know that we actually had an old teacher who-”

“Stop right there,” Chanyeol orders with a groan, “I’m already shit scared for our final exam. Any mention of teachers outside of school hours is strictly prohibited.”

“Alright, alright,” Baekhyun relents, hands raised in the air.

Chanyeol throws him one last playful scowl before looking back out onto their scenery and scanning the skyline.

“What are you gonna do once we graduate?”

The way Baekhyun sobers up immediately tells Chanyeol he’d hit a nerve and he attempts to back-pedal, take back his words when:

“It’s alright, you can ask.”

Shoulders slumping back to their normal position, Chanyeol waits patiently for Baekhyun’s answer.

“I want to be a hero.”

Short. Sweet. Baekhyun said it without a lie, yet Chanyeol can hear the edge of something more, something beyond.

“My parents want me to be a hero, too.”

_ Oh. _

“I want to, I really do,” Baekhyun says slowly, confidently, but his eyes are wide and his mouth trembles, “but I’m scared.”

Fear.  _ This _ . Chanyeol can relate to the anxieties of letting people down.

“I know I’m good,” Baekhyun admits, no trace of egoism, “but my weaknesses. They chain me down.”

Baekhyun worries that he might have gone too far, spilling a little too much that Chanyeol feels overwhelmed, but when he feels a warm hand over his, heavy with comfort, his lungs burns like he can’t breathe.

“Weaknesses?” Chanyeol repeats, almost as if he couldn’t believe what Baekhyun had said. “You’re fucking flawless.”

_ Ba-dum _ ,  _ ba-dum _ .

“Chanyeol?”

“You’ve saved my life, like more times than you should’ve.”

“Two isn’t that many.”

“Well, I mean, it sure is more than zero!”

“You freaked me out.”

Chanyeol suddenly halts, body freezing up and the smile half-way on his face immediately dies.

“I-I’ve never had that many friends,” Baekhyun begins, “Sehun’s kind of the only person I can comfortably say is one. But…”

Baekhyun bites his lips and looks from Chanyeol under his glasses, wondering if he was angry at his sudden outburst. His face remains impassive and Baekhyun assumes that it was okay to continue.

“You were just so… so…  _ overwhelming _ .”

Baekhyun feels the gasp more than he feels it as Chanyeol squeezes his hold on Baekhyun’s hand reflexively.

“I’ve never had anyone be that kind to me for no reason all the time,” Baekhyun admits, voice becoming quieter and quieter. “I thought that I could be strong on my own, that excessive closeness would just prevent me from my goals but…”

Finally, Chanyeol looks at Baekhyun when he turns his head to search his face.

Thoughtful, Baekhyun follows the way the front of Chanyeol’s brows gather as he thinks of the words he wants to say. Of the best way to convey how he feels.

“It’s not a weakness, Baekhyun, to depend on others.”

The words, simple, so simple, rock Baekhyun to his very core in a way that nothing else had.

“Asking for help doesn’t make you any less of a hero. It makes you more human.”

The tears fall before Baekhyun can stop them and he gasps in shock, quickly wiping away the embarrassed wetness.

“Fuck, sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“You don’t have to apologise.”

_ I don’t understand.  _

“I don’t understand,” Baekhyun echoes. “Why are you so nice to me?”

Chanyeol looks surprised at first, eyebrows disappearing into his hairline before he cracks a wide grin that dissipates the tension in Baekhyun’s gut.

“Why shouldn’t I be nice?”

“Because I haven’t done anything to earn it?”

“Everyone deserves kindness.”

Baekhyun can think of twenty different occasions that contradict those words but his disagreement is cut short when he looks at Chanyeol through slight foggy lens and a new perspective.

Wild hair tossing in the wind like an angry flame, Baekhyun has to think a little too hard about how Chanyeol’s face contrasts so heavily against its harshness, comforting smile on his face and eyes so open Baekhyun could read them like a book.

His hand reaches out, out of his command, wanting to see what the untamed locks feels like beneath his palm but he jerks when Chanyeol lifts his own arm and grabs Baekhyun’s by the wrist. Panicking, Baekhyun thinks he’s gone too far when Chanyeol slowly guides it to his face, eyes asking if this was alright before he rests it against his cheek, face tilted into the palm of Baekhyun’s hand.

“So warm,” he whispers.

Baekhyun makes a choking sound he knows wasn’t attractive and he’s sure his hands are on fire, red firing up his cheeks. Chanyeol opens his eyes at the noise and laughs silently when he sees Baekhyun’s expression.

“Don’t be scared. It's just a little face-touching.”

“That sounds like a lot to be scared of.”

Chanyeol merely lets out another guffaw.

“You have nice hands, Baekhyun.”

Wondering if seventeen-year-olds could have heart attacks, Baekhyun successful stifles the panicked whine that almost leaves his lips. 

 

Chanyeol starts humming, the vibrations going through Baekhyun’s fingertips and down his arm like an electric shock and Baekhyun feels like he’s just gotten a defibrillated, heart beating way too fast to be healthy. But… There’s a warmth in his chest, a simmering flame his gut that has Baekhyun feeling ten different versions of panicked but also five different ways in wanting to stay. He watches Chanyeol, humming deep in his chest like a cat purring and the tiniest lift of the corner of his mouth betrays his fondness.

 

On the top of a rooftop in the dying hours of the day, Baekhyun wonders for the first time if it's really a bad thing that he wants someone to stay.

 

~

 

Chanyeol was too nice.

That’s the thought that comes to the forefront of Baekhyun’s mind as memories from the past months project onto the screen. His initial stiffness don’t deter Chanyeol’s attempts for friendship, never failing to say hi to him in the hallways and throw a cheerful grin his way and somewhere in the cacophony of Baekhyun’s own insecurities, he feels a pleasant twinge of his heart. 

_ Baekhyun, why’d you stop playing with Mirae? _

 

_ Baekhyun, none of your friends have come over in a while. _

 

_ Baekhyun, you need to partner up with somebody _ .

 

They swirl in his head and slice through his eardrums and Baekhyun’s wobbling on a spiked precipice with nothing to hold on, tugging on to that fragile string that calls or his light but it remains silent.

 

_ You’re supposed to save others from loneliness when you can’t even save yourself. Where are your friends. Who will help you? _

 

Stop.

Stop. 

Stop.

Baekhyun justs wants out, doesn’t want to hear these accusatory words that cut too deep not to hurt and he wants to yell, wants to scream at the top of his lungs when:

_ “It’s not a weakness, Baekhyun, to depend on others.” _

The screen moves away from the razor-sharp focus of Baekhyun’s memory to its original pixelated flickering, only to revert back to blurry scenes and then to grey squares. Baekhyun gasps as he watches, speakers emitting white noise but Chanyeol’s voice from the recesses of his memories is louder.

 

_ “Sorry, I haven’t introduced myself yet, I’m Chanyeol _ .”

 

More memories flicker back and forth, Sehun and Baekhyun playing on a swing set when they were barely even tall enough to reach the seats, a box of chocolates that mysteriously arrived at his door steps signed with the initials of KM and a “Thanks for the lessons!”. But mostly Chanyeol. Chanyeol who frowns when he can’t get his fire to the right temperature, Chanyeol who yells in victory when he finally ticks a red cross next to the calculus problem, Chanyeol who shows Baekhyun what it means to be vulnerable but then to grow.

“You’re wrong!” Baekhyun yells into the void, voice echoing through the abyss. “I’m not weak. I’m not  _ weak _ . I’m strong and so are my friends and so is knowing when you’re vulnerable, and knowing when something is good-”

Baekhyun takes a shuddering breath as the speakers in the dark corners of the room turn louder, white noise like the sound of a heart rate monitor going flat, like the horror of silence, but Baekhyun is louder and Baekhyun now knows how to pass.

“And I’M NOT ALONE. I CAN GROW AND I CAN DEPEND ON PEOPLE AND IT’S NOT WEAK TO WANT FRIENDSHIP, TO WANT COMPANY.”

Usually, Baekhyun would feel mortified, shouting at the top of his lungs with no one in the room besides him and his burdens but the relief, the satisfaction of admitting his flaws has him breathless.

“I know what’s holding me back,” he whispers, hoping his teachers were watching him carefully. “I know what I’m afraid of.”

Fear rips through his body, the last words getting stuck on his throat but the image of Chanyeol laughing, of Sehun playfully pushing him off his bed, of every moment that Baekhyun has sweated and bled and  _ struggled _ flick through his mind and through the screen and it’s like Baekhyun has never known clarity like this because:

“I’m not alone and I can’t help those I care about if I don’t let them help me.”

The speakers stop, silence after Baekhyun’s outburst so jarring that he freezes. The screen empties and Baekhyun is thrown into a darkness so complete its like he doesn’t exist.

_ Is this it, have I failed? _

Five heartbeats pass in terrifying silence until the world is thrown into light so bright that Baekhyun screeches at the burn to his eyes, arms coming forward to shield from the pain but as they squeeze shut and Baekhyun tells himself to  _ breathe, breathe, breathe _ , the cloud over his mind releases and Baekhyun gasps in shock, jumping up at staring at his hands in wonder.

 

He’s laughing, so purely, immediately calling upon balls of light that circle around him like fireflies and he spins to the song of victory as the door behind the television open wide, the announcement of his successful completion of his final exam ringing through the speakers. Shoes skidding on the floor, the few stumbles that he makes as he sprints out the door and into the wide hall in front of him don’t deter his smile. He only stops short when he sees a tall figure pace back and forth at the end of the tunnel, head snapping up when he hears Baekhyun’s pants and grinning once Baekhyun starts running towards him. Colliding with an  _ oomph _ , Chanyeol barely manages to hold them up when Baekhyun crashes into him, breath heavy and body thrumming.

“I did it Chanyeol, I did it!”

He hasn’t stopped laughing and the sides of his cheek begin to get sore from how wide Baekhyun’s smiling but the glory of winning, the relief of admission, the elation at seeing Chanyeol pushes that to the edges of his mind.

“What are you saying? Of course you would pass!”

“Let me take you out for dinner.”

Chanyeol’s proud grin is cut short by wide eyes and panic.

“What?”

Baekhyun pushes past the tendrils of doubt and steps back so he can stand up straight and repeats his words with confidence.

“Let’s go out for dinner.”

Spluttering, Baekhyun’s not sure whether he should reach out an arm to pat Chanyeol on the back when he starts choking on his own spit or to run down the nearest hallway and yell for someone to get him some water.

“I-I-I,  _ shit _ .”

More than a little startled by Chanyeol’s curse, Baekhyun’s eyes go wide, regret already settling into the pits of his stomach before:

“Only if you agree to come on winter vacation with me.”

Chanyeol wheezes the words out, lack of air barely making the words comprehensible but Baekhyun catches them anywhere and he wonders if this is how Chanyeol feels everyday, smiling so wide that it almost hurts.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yes, okay!”

They make eye contact and hold it for a second too long before they burst into laughter. Its music to Baekhyun’s ears, calming the panicked beat of his heart as they allow themselves a few minutes to calm down.

“Does that mean you like me?”

“Chanyeol, can you not? I’ve never done this before and piss-scared is a little bit of an understatement for how I’m feeling-”

Baekhyun’s words stop in his mouth when Chanyeol reaches out a hand, fingertips grazing Baekhyun’s cheeks as he silently asks if this is alright.

Tilting his head stiffly, Baekhyun watches at Chanyeol slowly moves it forward to cup his face, eyes falling shut at the feeling of his thumb caressing his cheekbone.

“Is it alright if I kiss you?” he whispers through shaky lips.

Despite having admitted his undoings, Baekhyun still tightens up in fear. Agreeing would mean that he would have confirmed that he wanted Chanyeol to do so, that someone would have this power over him in a moment of weakness but as the fire in his chest grows with each swipe of Chanyeol’s thumb, and the roaring of his heart in loud in his ears Baekhyun decides that humanity is the first thing to fill the gap in his soul.

“Yes.”

 

Chanyeol is gentle, as always, slide of his lips against Baekhyun like the way the edges of his scarf would tickle his neck. But he’s strong, and steady. Hand cradling Baekhyun’s cheek speaking of safety and security and he sighs into Chanyeol’s mouth, heart so close to bursting that Baekhyun doesn’t realise he’s about to rip the fabric at the front of Chanyeol’s shirt. Moving to the slow push and pull, the smile that Chanyeol presses against his own makes Baekhyun’s own bloom and he could get used to this, really get used to this when-

“Fucken gotchas!”

Pushing away from him as quick as he could, Baekhyun jumps around to see Sehun cackling behind a door frame, smirk on his face as he scrolls through his phone.

“Didn’t know you were that smooth, Chanyeol,” he teases as he snaps another photo of Chanyeol’s embarrassed face and Baekhyun’s mortification.

“Sehun, why  _ you little _ -”

Sehun’s already sprinting off down the hallway and Baekhyun’s just about to follow hot on his heels before he feels a pair of arms whip around his waist to pull him flush against Chanyeol’s chest before he huffs and crosses his arms.

“Let Sehun have his fun,” Chanyeol laughs.

“Yeah, if by fun you mean keeping the photo until he can incriminate us with it!”

It’s really nice, the way Baekhyun can feel and hear Chanyeol’s laugh through his body as he eventually lays his guard down and lean against Chanyeol fully.

“Besides, with him gone, it’s just us again.”

The conspiratory whisper against Baekhyun’s ear has him shivering and before he knows his Chanyeol’s spinning him around and grinning down at him a little too much on the woolfish side.

“Got somewhere to be, Baekhyun?”

Baekhyun gulps and wonders if he can go back and redo his exam.

 

~

 

(Subject): JPEG File

(From): Se-fucking-hun

 

Just so you know, I’m gonna project this photo on the big screen for your party tonight. Just be thankful Chanyeol loves you enough that he’s stuck around this whole time so that I can actually use it to its full potential for your twenty-first birthday. Love you lots shit-face xx.


End file.
